


The Hacker and the Hit Men

by roseforthethorns



Series: I Am [1]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - BDSM, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, D/s, Dom!James, Double Penetration, Flirting, Fluffy cuddling, Hacker!Q, Hand Job, Hit Man!Alec, Hit Man!James, Innuendo, James and Alec are little shits, M/M, Platonic Cuddling, Rimming, Some angst, Sub!Q, Subdrop, Swearing, Threesome, abusive past relationship, canonical danger and injury, dom!Alec, dynamic suppression, eventual domestic bliss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-25 17:05:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 35,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7540879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseforthethorns/pseuds/roseforthethorns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Q is an up and coming hacker (and a Submissive), living next to married Doms James and Alec. When Q stumbles on something he shouldn't have seen, he has to go to his neighbors for protection.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Neighbors

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Whisper91](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whisper91/gifts).



> I love D/s universes and wanted to take a crack at it. I also have recently discovered the sweet delights of James/Q/Alec, and it turns out Alec was the missing piece for an idea I had about ten days ago.
> 
> I gift this to Whisper91, my inspiration, my very dear friend. Thank you for helping me see how amazing this OT3 is.
> 
> There will be sexy times later in the story. I can guarantee that. Like I would pass up the chance to write a deliciously steamy scene where Q is the sole focus of James's and Alec's affections.

“Just once, I would like to not be on clean up duty. Assassins are supposed to be far less messy than you are.”

Alec snorts and cleans the blood off his Bowie knife before sheathing it on his belt. “My position was compromised. I had to attack or compromise the hit.”

“And what exactly is wrong with using a sniper rifle?”

“It’s impersonal.”

James rolls his eyes with a put upon sigh. “Only you would say that.”

“Of course I would. Now can I please set this place on fire?”

“ _No_ , Alec. Jesus, come on. We have to get out of here.”

“Spoilsport.”

“No, I’m just more professional than you.”

“I’ll have you know I took out all the security cameras before we came in.”

“I’m leaving now.”

“Okay, okay I’m coming.”

“You’re just following me. I’m sure you’ll be coming later.”

“Mmmmm, yes I will. With you right along with me.”

***

They tumble into their flat forty-five minutes later and are instantly all over each other. Weapons and belts clatter to the table while clothes fly all over the room in their haste to touch and taste and fuck out the bloodlust and adrenaline from a successful hit. When the bedframe begins to smack against the wall, their neighbor wakes from a fitful sleep and just groans in frustration.

“Would it kill them to do that _not_ at three in the morning?”

Q rolls over and shoves his head under his pillow, even as James and Alec get louder and bloody louder. He hadn’t expected living next to two married Doms to have such an impact on his ability to sleep. The worst part is actually not the late night, very loud sex. It’s the effect it has on his Submissive instincts. Q works very hard to suppress as much as he can, but hearing his neighbors like this… it’s the only time he ever longs for something he gave up on having years before.

Unable to relax, Q gets up and puts the kettle on. He’s going to have to go back to the club after he finishes work for the day. He needs to work off some of his restless energy. No way he’s going to risk a drop this close to finishing a project.

***

James and Alec roll off the bed and fall to the floor in a sweaty tangle of legs and arms, giggling wildly. “Next time, sniper rifle. Okay?”

“Fine. But you better have a reward for me when we get back.”

“Horny bastard.”

“Daft git.”

James grins and kisses his husband gently. “Love you, Alec.”

The other man smiles and kisses James before getting up and cracking his back. “Love you too. Do we have any pizza left in the fridge?”

“Always thinking about your stomach.

“Or the way your arse looks in jeans.”


	2. New Places, New Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q moves in next door to James and Alec, finding them more than a bit overwhelming.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with Q’s neighbors, but ever since he moved into the flat next door nearly ten months before, he’s noticed that the men are… well, he would probably stick with “odd” and leave it at that. Two Doms that decide to bond and settle down are rare enough, even with the movement towards bonded and dynamic equality, but the men keep odd hours.

It’s the first thing Q notices when he moves in. He barely sleeps anyway, maybe a few hours a night, but James Bond and Alec Trevelyan (hard not to learn their names in their late night fucking sessions) will often leave their flat between nine and eleven and then return in the small hours of the morning. They always dress in practical black, and Q is fairly certain both men are packing when they leave. It’s a little bit intimidating, especially for an unbonded Submissive working to suppress his instincts when he can.

No, by far the oddest thing is how Alec and James flirt with _him_ on an almost daily basis.

***

The first time it happens is the day Q moves in. He’s hauling boxes up the two flights of stairs to his flat while the movers handle the larger pieces of furniture, and Q’s so preoccupied with his load of fragile electronics that he nearly runs James over. The Dom grabs Q by the arm to steady him and keep him from tipping back down the stairs, and when Q turns to thank him, the response dies in his throat.

This is the part he hates admitting to himself. At first glance with both Doms, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t have a little crush on them. The men are model quality good looking. James is muscled in just the right amount to be sexy and not overkill with short cropped blond hair and blue eyes that could have X-Ray vision for how piercing they are. Alec is slightly wirier than James, with hair a little longer on the top than the sides, with these grey-blue eyes like a storm and a permanent smirk curling the corner of his mouth. Both men exude a confident but relaxed Dominance that makes Q want to kneel and only serves to steel his resolve to ignore his Dynamic in public.

James helps him regain his balance and then grins at him. “I think I would remember seeing a gorgeous young thing like you here. Are you new?”

Swallowing past the sudden dry mouth, Q nods. “I’m moving in. Flat 2C.”

“What a coincidence. I live in 2D, right next door.” James holds out his hand, shaking Q’s firmly. “James Bond, private contractor.”

“Q. Just Q. Web design and coding.” Q moves past the man, who keeps pace with him, and heads into his new flat to put the box down before he drops it.

“The place has been empty for months, can’t seem to keep tenants in it long,” James comments from the doorway. Q notices the man’s gaze and frowns a little. The older man seems to be scrutinizing Q, and he doesn’t like it much, not with his defenses suddenly so weak.

“I wonder why. Noisy neighbors?”

“You could say that.” Another man (Alec) joins James at the door and claps the man hard on the shoulder. “All right there, James? And who is _this_?” He sees Q and looks at the younger man almost hungrily before smirking. “Alec Trevelyan, private contractor and this one’s ball and chain.”

“Oi! Stroppy git.”

“Cheeky wanker.”

 _Oh_. Q stares at the men, putting the pieces together. “So, you’re a couple then?”

“Yep. Going on fifteen years now, isn’t it?”

James smiles and kisses his partner gently. “Yes it is, now calm yourself. You’ll scare the poor lad.”

“Aw, but where’s the fun in that?”

“You could offer to help carry boxes.”

“I’ve got it,” Q interjects quickly. “The movers have almost everything up here anyway. But thank you for the offer.” He needs to lock himself away and clear his head. There’s too many Doms in the room and he’s about to snap from the strain of keeping himself aloof. “But,” he adds for the sake of hospitality and manners, “perhaps you’ll come by for dinner sometime.”

“We would be delighted. It depends on work, but we’ll let you know.” James smiles and gives Q a little salute before dragging Alec away and back to their flat.

It’s nearly forty-five minutes before everything is safely in Q’s flat and the movers have gone. The young man curls up on his bed, knowing the Drop is coming. The stress of moving, and deliberately doing so to a new neighborhood with no known safety net and then meeting those two gorgeous Doms who are painfully unavailable… he crashes hard and sinks very quickly. He thinks vaguely that when he recovers he needs to find a club nearby where he can let off steam and keep this at bay, but he’s too busy sobbing into his pillow to deal with it now.

***

Meanwhile, Alec and James are preparing for that night’s hit. Private contractor is always so much safer a position to give out than professional hit men.

“That young man earlier. You said his name was Q? Odd name… did he strike you as a Sub?”

James nods, doing up the laces on his black combat boots. “He did. Strikes me as a Sub who doesn’t want people to know his Dynamic or isn’t comfortable with it. I wonder what he’s been through to cause such a reaction, poor thing. He turned positively white when we offered to help him move.”

“When you offered. I was too busy looking at him. I didn’t see a collar or marks on him either. Unattached?”

“Undoubtedly or his Dom would have run us off with a sword. Or in your case, probably a blowtorch.”

“Uh, flame thrower. Remember who you’re talking to.”

“Of course, how could I forget? London’s favorite arsonist.”

“You know you love my fiery side.”

“Mmmmm. One of the reasons I married you.”

“Really?”

“Of course it is, you bellend. Come on, we’re going to be late.”

“Aye aye, sir.”

James smirks and drags Alec close for a bruising kiss. “I think I’m on top tonight, _babe_.”

***

Q goes out to the nearest club three days later.

He dresses in tight jeans and a t-shirt with a light jacket over. His hair is hopelessly untamed and sticking up everywhere, but he knows that Doms find that quite attractive in a Sub who looks like Q does. Like jailbait, he’s been told.

Everything about his body language screams innocent and shy, even if underneath he’s mostly just curious and observing everything he can in his calculating, careful way. The innocent appearance brings out the Dominant protective instincts, making it easier to find someone for the evening, and Q is not disappointed. He’s barely there ten minutes before a young man about his height approaches him and shakes his hand.

“Alistair.”

“Alex.”

“Are you waiting for someone?”

“Well that depends. Are you looking for someone?”

The blond smirks a little and winks at Q. “I think I found him.”

The next part is always predictable. The Dom buys Q a drink which he accepts, easily hiding the fact that his tolerance for alcohol is higher than most who don’t drink regularly. He plays up the inebriation in order to be pulled onto the floor for a dance and grope. When Alistair kisses him, it’s nice, pleasant enough; the hand in his hair is a nice touch. Q has no problem letting the Dom lead him into a back room.

“Safeword?”

“Binary. And I don’t stick around after and I don’t do marks.”

“Fine with me.”

Q lets Alistair work, coaxing him onto his knees until Q is half under and comfortable, enough so that the stress from work and his new neighbors is no longer eating away at his mind. The rest is fairly standard. Condoms, Alistair feeding his cock to Q (who, and he is proud of this, is a natural with his mouth and has no gag reflex) until the Dom can’t hold back and bends Q over the bed. He preps him quickly and begins to fuck him with long, steady strokes.

To his credit, Q makes all the right noises and clenches and begs for more, but because of who he is, because this is a club and a one-time deal and Q hasn’t given his real name to the Dom, he won’t let himself go completely under. This is more to scratch a very persistent itch that toys just don’t satisfy in the long run. Maybe he needs to get himself a fucking machine… yeah…

He feels his orgasm approaching and begs until Alistair pulls him back by his hair and he comes, shouting and pulling the Dom into ecstasy as well. They both sink against the mattress, panting hard, and Q, even half under, forces himself to clean up and start dressing, surfacing quickly once his pants and shirt are on.

“You’re a good boy, Alex. Very good, better than I’ve had in a long time.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Will I see you again?”

Q pulls his trousers back on before putting on his shoes. “I don’t do that. One time only. Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Thought I would ask.

The young hacker watches as the Dom dresses, admiring his body one last time before slipping back out through the club and into the early London evening. He hurries back to his flat for a desperately needed shower and reheated pasta. Only then, hair drying and wrapped in his pajamas, does he sit down at his desk for a few hours to finish the website he’s being legitimately paid to build. Once that is done, he can get back to designing codes for his buyer.

This is the first night he hears James and Alec get in late. Like really late. It’s nearly gone four in the morning when he hears them stumbling up the stairs and shushing each other as they get their flat door open and locked behind them. Q stiffens in his chair as he is then treated to some of the roughest sounding and certainly loudest, hottest sex he’s ever heard in his life. The men could be filming a porno for all he knows Suddenly, his excursion from earlier seems weak in comparison and he curses the moment he discovered he would never develop into a Dom. He hates that he can’t be self-sufficient without craving touch or praise, loathes the idea of letting in someone and trusting them with his life and his health. He can’t. He won’t.

Q resolves to buy earplugs the next morning as the men finally stop fucking and the noises drop to mere whispers and murmured conversations. About time. Distracted, he saves his work and crawls into bed to stare at the ceiling and wait for sleep to find him.

***

“Maybe we should invite him over for dinner. Get to know him.”

“He would probably take it the wrong way. He’s unattached, Alec.”

“I know. That’s why we should do it. He’s got to be lonely, a Sub without a Dom and, if the past few days are any indication, seemingly without any friends or support network. I’m properly concerned for the lad if you must know.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I would say you have a bit of a thing for the boy.”

“Maybe I do. We’ve always talked about finding a Sub for the both of us. Someone we could bring into our lives who could match us. How do we know it isn’t him if we don’t get to know him?”

“We don’t. But I also don’t want him to feel forced into anything. He’s quite young.”

“Yeah, yeah I know. Still. I think it is time that we start to look for a Sub though. I do love you, James, but we both have instincts that aren’t completely satisfied, happy as we are.”

“Despite my best efforts to ignore them, you’re right. Cuddling you just isn’t the same.”

Alec throws a cushion at James which the other man easily catches and sets aside. “Dunno why I married you.”

“Because you love me and you’re lost without me.”

“Mmm, no. I think it’s because you’re a kinky bastard who occasionally lets me set things on fire.”

“Hopeless pyro.”

“Uptight wanker.”

“You know you love me.”

“Of course I do."

"Come here.”

“Think about it at least?”

“I promise I will.” James would absolutely be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about their new neighbor in that way, but he’d seen the panic in Q’s eyes the day he moved in. He’s not about to push the boy into something he doesn’t want. If there’s one thing James has, it’s patience- something Alec is often lacking. “Compromise. We can bake him a meal as a welcome gift.”

“Okay. Sounds good. And you’ll make your famous brownies for dessert. But maybe not for him. Bake them for me?”

James chuckles and kisses his husband before settling back to read more of his book. “I’ll bake you brownies in the morning.”

“I fucking love you.”

“And I love you.”


	3. Unconventional Employment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q decides to find out what his neighbors do for a living. On an unrelated note, he unearths something in his hacking.

Once he gets used to the new flat, Q finds a rhythm to his life fairly quickly, and time passes swiftly for the twenty-five-year-old Sub. He gives up on sleep for the most part and substitutes it with liberal amounts of Earl Grey tea; Q doesn’t eat much, mostly biscuits with his tea and the occasional takeaway. Some of his time is spent on his job, building websites, but most of it goes to his _real_ job which is hacking.

Q is a young genius when it comes to breaking into other people’s networks.

He’s always understood how computers and codes worked, going so far as to invent a self-mutating code when he was barely nineteen, and he nearly had it stolen out from under him. Since then he’s always kept a Wi-Fi disabled laptop as part of his gear so that he can design codes without that fear. He was more surprised than he’d thought he would be when he discovered just how many people look for someone to hack or bypass security, and since his talents are in high demand, Q has no problem charging well for it. The only reason he lives so sparsely is because he doesn’t much care about the things, and he’s saving up enough to hopefully be able to live comfortably one day, isolate himself and make shutting out his Dynamic easier. As it is, when clubs can’t cut it, Q goes for long runs through London, coming back drained enough that he actually sleeps. It helps keep some of the internal noise at bay.

What complicates matters, as is quickly becoming the norm, is his damn neighbors.

He can tell that they mean well. They even brought him dinner and dessert a week after he’d moved in, but the men are still odd. Their late hours, their porn sex, their non-stop flirting with him even though they’re quite happily married (he’s stopped trying to work that out, especially since he’s already told himself nothing can come of it).

A typical conversation with the men usually has James trying to politely ask about Q’s day with Alec throwing out innuendos all over the place, despite his partner’s exasperated looks to try and rein him in. It’s amusing, but it leaves Q with a longing he desperately doesn’t want. He’s not sure what their intentions are, and he certainly has no desire to be a kept Submissive as so many Subs are. He won’t give up his work, what he loves, just because of some hormonal fluke of puberty. The worst part is that he doesn’t want it to stop because he kind of likes them. James, when not focused on telling Alec to chill out, is wonderfully clever and very sharp witted. Alec is rather intelligent as well, but seems a bit more down to earth (Q secretly wonders what would happen if James were properly provoked, inspiring certain fantasies of the man spanking him that, after six months, he stops trying to shut out). As he’s started getting to know them, they’re not half bad. Kind of sweet in fact. But, just as Q carefully keeps his personal distance, so do they with their vague job title of “private contractor.” So finally, after nearly a year of keeping his distance, he decides to try and solve the obvious conundrum. What do these men _do_ for a living?

***

Setting up surveillance isn’t difficult. Q just waits for the men to leave and then breaks into their apartment by bypassing their security. It takes him all of five seconds to render the alarms useless. He plants his bugs in subtle, unnoticeable locations and is out of there in two minutes with everything back as it should be and the alarms back on with no record they were ever off. Now he just has to wait. In one of his rare bursts of real hunger, he orders a pizza and spends most of his evening eating and indulging in a rare few hours of Assassin’s Creed.

James and Alec don’t return until two am the next morning, earlier than most other times, and they both seem to be in a less than chipper mood, indicated by the definitely lack of instantly slamming doors and noisy kissing. After turning on his equipment, Q puts on his headphones and listens to their conversation.

“…I’m telling you, we were set up. We never should have taken that contract.” _James._

“You think I didn’t figure that out when they started shooting at us?” _Thunk. Alec._

“I’m not trying to insult your intelligence, but we need a new system for vetting potential clients. I would like to not be killed by the mob, thank you very much.”

“Well, neither would I. So fine then. Do we start using truth serum or something in their coffee? Think it through, James. We may be the best in the business, but people are starting to take advantage of that.” _Another two thunks, boots maybe?_

“Then I think they need a reminder of exactly what we’re capable of.”

“I take it you have something in mind?”

“I say we take out our client.”

“Now you’re talking! Can I _please_ bring my flamethrower? I think he deserves more than a few burn scars.”

“Love, think it through. We have to be careful about this, plan it out. But we do this and the other groups will know to not fuck with us.” James’s voice is cold and deadly in Q’s ears, and it causes a very strange mixed reaction of fear and arousal. Damnit, not right now.

“Hey, James, no one ever said it would be easy to kill for a living.”

“Excuse you, I’m the one who got you into this in the first place.”

“You?! My impression was you managed to fuck me into some sort of submission and get me to turn on Russia when _you_ were my target at the time. You were a rather pesky bloke the KGB wanted gone.”

“That was just an added bonus. And it took you off of several radars, including MI6. So stop your whinging, Alec.”

“Hmmmm. I suppose that’s true. You were really handsome in your twenties. Is that paunch I’m starting to see?”

“Ohhhhh, don’t you start something you can’t finish, lyubov moya.”

“I think you’re just jealous that I’ve kept my good looks all these years, lapochka.”

“One accident with your flamethrower. That’s all it will take. One false move and you’ll be a permanent fixture in some hospital burn ward.”

“You need to be careful too then. Playing with fire and all that.”

“We’re planning later?”

“Damn right, I’m having you now.”

Q shuts off the equipment and sets his headphones aside, staring at the wall. His neighbors are some kind of hit men. They kill people for a living. And damn it, why doesn’t that scare him more? He gets up and starts pacing, running back through what he’s just learned. They’re clearly dangerous, odd hours mean nighttime hits, they’re planning a hit on a man who betrayed them.

They’re fiercely loyal, they’re deadly, and bloody hell, they keep flirting with _him_!

It’s too confusing. Q doesn’t have the faintest idea what to do about anything. His own emotions are too tangled and half repressed to think clearly about any of it, and even with what he’s just heard, all he can picture are their smiles when they talk to him, their easy banter and their grinning. They like him, but he doesn’t know why. He’s…

He sinks to his bed and grabs a nearby pillow. He’s nothing special. He’s a thin little hacker who eats too little and drinks too much tea. He’s not self-assured when it comes to his Dynamic. He doesn’t look anything like those men, he gets skittish and shy around most Doms, and he doesn’t trust anyone. Ever.

Hearing the rousing shouts from next door, Q fixes his earplugs in place to cut down on some of the noise and tries to sleep, his dreams punctured by visions of guns and blue eyes and teasing smirks.

***

One Month Later

It’s almost a year to the day since Q moved in. He’s still the recluse of the building, still a bit shy around people but terribly clever if you get him talking about anything related to technology. He’s still the most successful underground hacker in London, probably in Europe if the forums are anything to go by. It’s a regular day of finishing a few web sites that are being launched this week before doing some exploratory hacking. Just to see if there’s anything out there. He’s heard rumors the past few weeks on the forums. Some guy going by the letter “S” is planning something big. Q has seen absolutely no evidence to support this, so he decides to do a little digging.

Q isn’t looking for anything specific, not really sure what to expect if there is some big underground plot. He’s just sifting through lines of code and trying to explore a piece of a program that clearly doesn’t belong in the Secret Service servers (neither does he but that’s a different story). Finally recognizing it as a kill code for the firewalls and the power, he tries to counteract the code and watches it change right before his eyes.

He freezes, fingers poised over the keys of his laptop. He tries again with the same results. It’s a piece of _his_ code. It has to be… but he’s never been in the servers at MI6 before, not on any of his jobs. He couldn’t have left this there. Someone’s adapted what he’s written…

Q searches through the code until he finds the end command, triggering it and nullifying the program before deleting it completely from where he’d found it, but it leaves a little piece of what he calls “ghost code”, a little digital marker that links to the other pieces of code like it or designed by the same person. Q tracks this to another server, this time as part of Parliament’s network.

For the better part of the next hour, Q works to delete and then trace, delete and trace, finding pieces of his code set to attack sections of major British life and government. By the time he reaches the code embedded in the security for the NHS, the big picture begins to coalesce.

Someone has taken his code and changed it, tailored it to sleep in servers until a “go” command is sent. Then the code will wake up and effectively take out the technology it’s associated with. If done all at once… someone could effectively incapacitate England as he knows it.

Q saves a copy of the last piece he finds (in the traffic control systems of the Tube), downloading it to a USB and pocketing the drive. He needs to study it, figure out how to counteract it… but he needs to get out of this program. He’s backing out and covering his tracks when his screen begins to blip. Then it flickers. All of a sudden it goes black, and Q feels his stomach drop out through his shoes.

“Well. If this isn’t the Quartermaster.”

Q feels his mouth go dry as he looks right into the webcam on his laptop. Oh no… oh nonono… And whoever is on the other end of the line knows his hacking name. Could this be the “S” he heard about the week before? Q doesn’t recognize the voice, but it sounds slightly accented, almost Spanish.

“I’ve heard a great deal about you, but never figured you’d be so… young.”

Q’s skin is crawling now, this voice sounds delighted, predatory, hungry. _Dominant_. The kind of Dominant Q runs from. Has been running from since he was eighteen.

“And you look so frightened. My my, little Sub. You’ve been so naughty. I think someone needs to teach you a lesson.”

“I suppose that’s you? S?” He sounds braver than he feels, at least, but the voice just chuckles nastily.

“We’ll see, won’t we? And it’s rude to use nicknames, darling. Just call me Silva. It’s as real as your little hacker name is. Only yours won’t keep you safe.”

Q slams his laptop shut and unplugs it before getting out his heavy mallet (he justifies having it as self-defense) and smashes the crap out of the device. The man… _Silva_ … saw his face, knows his code name which means he most likely traced his IP… oh fuck. Oh _fuck_.

In less than five minutes, Q has a bag packed with clothes, his air gapped laptop, soap, and his spare set of glasses. He looks longingly at his phone before leaving it behind: too risky now. He locks his flat and runs next door, hesitating only for a second before knocking on the door to 2D several times. He has no other option. He needs protection and these two men are his best bet at staying alive.

James answers and instantly sees Q’s distress. “What’s wrong?” Alec hears his husband’s concern and joins him at the door, a wet plate and a towel in his hands.

Q looks up at both of them and blurts, “I’m in trouble. I think someone is going to try and kill me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always liked the trope that Alec defects from Russia because of James. Therefore, they would use Russian occasionally in their pet names for each other. Among all the other languages they probably speak.
> 
> lyubov moya- my love
> 
> lapochka- sweetie pie


	4. Run Boy Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q has to get out of the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is from the AWESOME song of the same name by Woodkid. Definitely listen to it.

James ushers the boy into the flat and locks the door behind him while Alec sets the plate and towel down. Q hasn’t stop stopped talking since walking into the flat, a non-stop gush of worry and fear and verbal self-flagellation.

“Slow down, Q. What’s happened? Who is after you?”

“I really didn’t think anything of it. I was just deleting code that didn’t belong in that server-”

“ _Q_.” There’s a hint of Dominance in James’s voice that gets the younger man’s attention. He seems to realize where he is and who he’s with, but instead of shying away as he’s always done before, he leans forward, almost taking James’s hands. “I’m in _trouble_. I discovered something. Something I wasn’t supposed to see and the person who is orchestrating it tracked me back to my laptop. So I smashed the laptop. But what he said… what Silva said… he said he’s gonna teach me a lesson, that my name can’t keep me safe…” He’s hyperventilating and seeing stars and everything is spinning again because he just can’t _breathe_ … he’s gonna die…

He feels a hand on his back as James helps him put his head between his knees. “Breathe, Q,” he murmurs, rubbing circles on Q’s back to help him calm down while Alec hurries to get their emergency kits and weapons ready. When the boy is breathing a little slower and easier, James tries to talk to him again. “Q, what makes you think we can protect you?”

The hacker goes red at the ears and grins sheepishly, staring up at the Dom. “I kinda broke in here a month ago and bugged the place… I was tired of not knowing what you both do. So I know you’re hit men. But honestly, keeping weird, late hours, keeping me awake with your… your porn sex most nights? How was I supposed to resist?”

“Porn sex?” he hears Alec call from the next room before poking his head around the door and smirking. “We sound that good?”

“You really should think about sound proofing. That’s how loud you are.”

The older man howls and heads back to packing as James, struggling and not quite succeeding in taming his smirk, turns back to Q. “What about the alarm?”

“Way too easy to disable and then wipe the evidence it had been tampered with. Child’s play. You need a new alarm system.”

James stares at the boy with a mixture of amusement, concern, anger, and something akin to pride. “That was very dangerous, Q. You could have gotten hurt. Or in worse trouble than you’re in.”

Alec strides back in with two black duffle bags and drops them by the door. “Packed. Where should we take him?”

“What do we need to know, Q? We’re hit men… not really bodyguards.”

“I don’t know who else to turn to. This was my best option. It was this or try and leg it on my own and… and I think he can track phones and cameras and things. So he might not know I’m with you but if he sees us on a camera, catches us in your car or outside your flat… your phones probably aren’t safe anyway. You can be monitored on them even if they’re locked.”

James quickly hands his to Alec who stashes them before coming back. “We need burners then. And a safe way to get you out of London.”

Q nods, trying to breathe normally. If he loses it any more than he already has, he’s in danger of dropping and he _really_ doesn’t want to have that on top of everything else.

“I can probably take out the cameras on this block if you have a laptop. Block the webcam though. We’ll have maybe a three-minute window once I take them out, but we’ll need a different car after. It’s child’s play to look back and see which car is missing.”

Alec looks at James, raising an eyebrow in a silent question; James nods once in response. “Okay, Q, take out the cameras for a ten block radius. That will help buy us some time. I have a car in storage just outside the city that we can use. Alec and I have a safe house we can take you to, but we aren’t secret agents or a sleeper cell or anything. We’re just hit men.”

“I can explain in the car. But the longer we stay the more danger we’re in. Please. Help me.” He looks up at them, pleading.

“Can you take orders, Q? If we tell you to duck, or run, or stay down, will you?” James’s piercing blue eyes are deadly serious as he stares into Q’s own green ones.

“Yes. If I have to, I can.”

Alec boots up the laptop, covering the webcam before handing it to Q. The hacker’s fingers fly over the keyboard, easily bypassing the London traffic security and shutting down the cameras around them before setting up junk code that will randomly shut down cameras around the city in five minute intervals for the rest of the day. It takes him four minutes, and had he not been so anxious, it would have taken him two.

“Okay. Let’s go.” He stands and hands back the laptop before grabbing his bag before wobbling and nearly falling. His legs refuse to hold him, and terror grips him as the Doms catch him. “Get me. To the car. I’m Dropping,” he grits out. He can’t stop trembling now, even though the hands holding him up are helping keep the worst of it at bay.

It’s James who takes his arm, pulling out what looks to Q like a Walther PPK as Alec extracts a small Beretta from his own bag. They help Q down the stairs, Alec leading and James guarding their rear. The Dom bundle Q into the back of the car, Alec sitting back there with him as James takes the wheel.

“You should drive, James. You’re better going ninety through London than I am.”

“Okay. Try and help him if he’ll let you. That Drop looks like it could really do a number on him.

Everything is fuzzy in Q’s vision as the car starts. Alec leans down to pull a blanket around the boffin. “To help mask you from other cameras,” he murmurs, offering his hand. “We can help you Q, as best we can, but you’ll have to trust us to do that. And right now, if you Drop and push us away, all it will do is put you more at risk. Will you let me help you down, kotyonok?”

Q blinks up at him through his glasses. “Did you just call me ‘kitten’?”

James chuckles as he pulls out of their parking space, and Alec smiles at the young Sub. “I did. Is that all right?”

Surprisingly, it is. Q’s trembling under the blanket and needs help. He can’t do this on his own, not when he’s about to fall apart. Nodding, he moves a little bit so that his head is in Alec’s lap. The Dom strokes his hair gently and cups one hand firmly but tenderly at the nape of Q’s neck. “Shhhhh, that’s it, kotyonok. We’ve got you. Good lad, breathe for me now.”

Q can’t remember if he’s ever been coaxed down so gently, so sweetly by someone before. He feels his fear take a back seat as calm waves of warmth wash through him with each murmured praise.

“There we go, and one more time. Q, you go down so beautifully for me. I’ve got you, I won’t leave. Good boy, Q.”

Alec is tender in a way Q hadn’t thought possible from listening to or talking to the man. There’s a great depth of sensitivity there, and it’s such a comfort that before he knows it, he’s under and breathing evenly and drifts off to sleep for a short while.

***

“He’s out, for the moment at least. James… what have we gotten ourselves into now?”

“I think he’s a client, Alec. And we have to protect him from this Silva character.”

“James, he’s so alone.” Alec is combing his fingers gently through Q’s hair to help him stay down and rest a little bit. “He went down like someone who hadn’t properly in a very long time. He’s put his trust in us and, you know, I care for him. Have done since he moved in. And I know you do too.” He chuckles a little. “Little bugger bugged our flat though and we didn’t notice. How about that. Shite murderers we are if we can’t tell when someone’s broken in.”

“It’s impressive to be sure. He’s very clever.”

“He looks so vulnerable right now. Hopefully keeping him low profile like this makes it easier to get out of the city.”

“I thought that was part of your plan. That and you’re a sucker for a good cuddle.”

“Wish I knew why he was so scared of us before and not now that he knows our profession.”

“I don’t have any answers for you, love. But I’m sure if I get a chance to hold him, if he lets me… that I’ll feel just as protective as you do.”

“So we tell him the truth whenever he asks. We don’t keep things from him. Maybe he’ll open up too.”

“It’s worth a try, lyubov moya.”

“Even after all these years, it makes me laugh when you speak Russian.”

“Would you rather I spoke Italian? French? German?”

“As long as it’s you, I don’t much mind or care.”

“Softie.”

“Tell no one.”

***

“Q? Wake up, dear. We need to change cars.”

The boffin stirs, coming up slowly at first until he remembers the events of a few hours before. He sits up, Alec supporting him, and he doesn’t really have the strength to pull away. Besides, he doesn’t feel quite so panicked now as he had before. “Where are we?”

“Just outside London. Took a little more than an hour to get here.” James carries the bags and leads them through an old storage facility until he comes to locker 1953. He opens the locker and turns the light on to reveal an Aston Martin DB5 in perfect condition. Q gapes and Alec grins.

“ _That_ is our escape vehicle? It’s an antique!”

“Oi, it’s a gorgeous car.”

“Yeah, don’t knock the car, Q. James loves this baby.”

“I do. Enough that you’ll never get to drive her, Alec.” He winks at Q. “My husband is an absolute trainwreck when it comes to cars.”

“That was _one time_.”

 _Five_ , James mouths, making Q smile.

“In my defense, it was rigged to explode. I just… helped it.”

Now Q is giggling, relaxing as he watches the men tease and bicker. He climbs into the back seat as Alec puts the bags in the trunk. “Do you want me in the back with you again? Or do you want James this time?”

It’s a question Q hasn’t really considered, but he knows the answer. “You. I think James might have a heart attack if you tried to drive.”

Bond snorts and winks at his husband. “He knows you as well as I do, apparently.”

Alec climbs into the back seat and is surprised when Q presses against him, wrapped in the blanket from the other car. When he raises an eyebrow at the boy, Q shrugs. “I think I’m still under a little. And I need to be held. I’ve not let a Dom hold me in nearly five years.”

James catches Alec’s eye in the rearview mirror, both men feeling their hearts break a little bit for the young man. Alec wraps his arm around Q’s shoulders and pulls him close, stroking his hair. “Well you have us now, if you want?”

Q nods sleepily as James starts the car and pulls out of the locker, quickly parking once it’s clear before closing the unit up and getting back in the car. “We’ll stop in a few hours for food. It’s a bit of a drive to the safe house.”

“How far?”

“About five hundred miles. Rest, Q. We’ve got you.”

***

The trip takes nearly nine hours, even with stopping for food and the loo and James driving as fast as he can get away with without getting pulled over. Q sleeps through a good portion of the drive, so James keeps the radio on low, just to hear pieces of the news. He checks back on his husband and the Sub periodically, but Alec is completely focused on the young man. James only feels jealous that he hasn’t had a chance to hold and comfort the Sub properly yet, but he knows Alec is doing a fine job. Underneath the bravado and smirks and one liners, Alec has a very caring heart.

Eventually he stops long enough to grab sandwiches and burner mobiles from motorway services, and watches as Alec helps feed Q, the boy mumbling something about his first proper meal in two weeks. Well. That just steels James’s resolve to cook once they reach the house. He’ll need to make sure they stock the pantry when they get in.

When he pulls off the main road and down the long drive to the safe house, he nods to Alec who begins waking the sleeping Sub. “We’re here, poppet,” Alec murmurs, combing his fingers through Q’s hair. He’s thoroughly addicted to it now, lush and curly and delightfully soft. It clearly helps the boy relax too, and that just satisfies something deep inside the Dom.

James rolls to a stop outside the front of the house, and he helps Alec and Q from the car. They both support Q’s still sleepy legs as he looks up at the place. “Where are we?”

“Scotland,” James answers. “Welcome to Skyfall.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, totally borrowed little moments from Skyfall, it fit though. It feels right.
> 
> We're pretty much through the exposition now. Loads of cuddles and backstory angst to come.


	5. Cold, Drafty, Safe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> House tour, a long, hot bath, and trying to make sense of it all.

“Skyfall.” The word feels strange on his tongue, unfamiliar. Q stares up at the house (no, houses are small and quaint. This is a fucking _mansion_ ), trying to form something of a cohesive thought about the place. “This is yours?”

James nods. “It’s what I inherited from my parents when they died. I was twelve.”

Before he can stop himself, Q responds, “I never knew mine. As far as I know, I’ve always been an orphan.”

Alec and James both turn to look at him, surprise and concern written all over their faces. In an effort to shake off the heavy glances, Q stares back. “For professional killers, you have shite poker faces.”

The tension breaks with chuckling and boyish shoving before the two men grab the bags from the trunk, including Q’s, and lead the young Sub into the house.

***

As soon as the front door closes, Q’s first impression of the house is cold. Then drafty. Then _dark_.

The windows, shuttered and boarded up as they are offer little light into what could have been, cleaned up and painted and dusted, probably a very respectable place. Everything just looks grey, and Q shivers a little in his thin cardigan.

“Q?”

He looks up to see Alec offering him the blanket from the car. Rather than protest, he accepts it with murmured thanks and wraps it around his shoulders. He needs warmer clothes; what he has packed won’t suffice at all. He’s still shivering as they head down the main hallway and into the sitting room.

“We’ve not been here for a proper stay in several years,” he hears James saying. “So the place needs a bit of… work. But it should suffice for now. It’s as off the grid as we know how to be. We don’t even have telly here.”

Q nods and looks around. The chairs and tables are covered with cloths and boxes, and they are leaving dusty footprints as they walk down the hall. After the main sitting room is another corridor with doors to the side and at the end. James pulls them to a stop and opens what Q thinks must be a cupboard. Instead, he finds a gun room.

“Woah… this is really impressive.” Bone chilling cold momentarily forgotten, Q walks into the room and examines all the pieces he can reach. They’re beautifully crafted; had he not focused so much on computers, he might have taken engineering or gone into government research and development. Each piece is gorgeous or highly functional, including several shotguns and a few sniper rifles with modified scopes.

“I designed those,” Alec pipes up, pointing at the scopes. “Added an infrared lens for nighttime hits. Haven’t needed one in ages, so we keep them here.”

“He refuses to use it,” James murmurs, making Q snort.

“The more I hear about Alec, the more he seems like a rule breaker and a risk taker. Is that about right?”

“You know it. This one here keeps me in line sometimes, unless he’s joining in.”

“Really. James as a rule breaker?”

Those clever blue eyes twinkle wickedly. “You didn’t know me in my youth, Q. I was quite the rule breaker then. Marriage to this one,” he points to Alec, “has mellowed me some, I think. He’s so much of a child sometimes that it’s like being a parent.”

“Woah now, don’t make it creepy, Bond.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Trevelyan.”

Their banter is so _easy_. Q feels his chest ache and a sudden burn in his eyes, a longing for something he knows he can never have. He sets the sniper rifle down and backs out of the room, pulling the blanket around his shoulders again. “What’s the rest of the house like?”

There’s a bathroom on the ground floor right before the kitchen. This room seems frequently used, with freshly washed dishes in the rack and milk in the fridge.

“Where do you think he is?”

“Probably out on the grounds. He’ll be back in when he sees the car.”

“Who?”

“I think they mean me, lad.”

Q startles and nearly falls over, James catching him. The young man leans back against the Dom as an old, weathered Scotsman with a wiry white beard walks into the room, a shotgun over his arm.

“James.”

“Kincade.”

“And Alec. Hasn’t managed to shake you yet, then?”

“No such luck, sir. And he’s tried many times.”

The old man nods and fixes his beady eyes on Q. “And who is the lad?”

James looks down at Q and squeezes his shoulders gently. “This young man is a guest. Q, meet Kincade, the gamekeeper of sorts.”

“I think that officially makes this place as Scottish as it can get. It’s far from civilization, it’s cold and drafty, and even the staff who live here are weather-beaten and sharp as the hills.”

All three older men stare at Q, and for one long moment, he thinks that maybe he’s gone too far, that he hasn’t thought properly before speaking. Kincade is the first to laugh though, a deep, chortling boom that somehow reminds Q of Father Christmas.

“I like him, lads. He’s feisty. Maybe he can teach you jumped up shits a thing or two.”

Now they all dissolve into laugher, and even Q gives a little nervous giggle.

“Is there anything in the pantry, Kincade? I was thinking one of us needed to run to town.”

“No, I’ll go. It’s about that time of the week anyway. What do you need besides food?”

“I think Q needs some warmer clothes,” Alec murmurs, noticing how the boy’s lips are starting to look just a tad blue. “I’ll take measurements and you can find him some warmer jumpers and trousers in town?”

The gamekeeper nods and sets about putting things away in the kitchen. Alec digs around in one of the drawers until he comes up with a soft tape measure, walking back to kneel before Q. The young Sub stares at the Dom, wide eyed. Alec is kneeling, oh god that’s so strange, not right, he shouldn’t be…

“Breathe, lad. I just need to make sure Kincade gets things that fit. All right?” He holds up the tape measure until Q nods. Alec takes quick, efficient measurements while James writes them all down on a shopping list of all things; there was one hanging by the door. It’s all over in a moment, and Q relaxes enough to sit down at the kitchen table.

“Why don’t you run him a hot bath. I’ll come back with food, and you can all have a hot dinner.” Kincade takes the list, looking over it.

“Is there any of the good Scotch left?” James asks, resting his hand on the back of Q’s chair.

Kincade grins. “Check the cellar, lad. You know where it is.” He nods to Q and eyes each man for a moment. “Alec, come with me. You can carry the shopping.”

Q snorts and grins as Alec sighs like a put upon maid and gets up to follow. He kisses his husband first though, a brief but passionate brush of lips, and then he’s gone. Leaving Q alone in the house with James.

***

“Q?”

The young man starts a little, realizing James has been trying to get his attention for a few minutes. “Yes, s-sorry, what?”

“You’re freezing. Come on, I have something to show you and then I’ll run you a nice hot bath. How does that sound?”

“I… I guess… Okay.”

James offers his hand, giving Q the chance to refuse it, but the young Sub takes it, squeezing to make sure it’s real before letting James lead him through the kitchen and down another corridor. The Dom comes to a wall a little way down the hall and stops, crouching down and feeling around the edges of the decorative molding along the wall, and Q suddenly realizes what he’s looking for. “The house has a priest hole?”

James finds what he’s looking for and opens the secret passage. “It does. If anything happens, if we’re in danger for any reason and I tell you to run, you come here. The passage comes up across the moor by the chapel. You’ll be safe there until we can follow. Do you understand?”

“Yes, James.” Q peers into the passageway, thinking suddenly of Shelob’s Lair. “Are there spiders in there?”

“Probably, but not huge ones I don’t think… I hid in here when I found out my parents had died.”

Q glances at the Dom, stunned by the sudden open vulnerability in his eyes. “Didn’t come out for several days, no matter what Kincade did to coax me back. Always saw that as the moment my childhood ended.” He looks up at Q. “Alec knows. Well, he practically knows everything about me, good and bad. If you ever feel that you want to share things with us, we’ll listen. And I promise we won’t judge.”

“I-I don’t… I haven’t… There’s things about me you don’t want to know. T-trust me.” Q shivers violently and clutches at the blanket.

“Can I give you a hug? Try to warm you a little?”

Both of them have now asked his permission before any kind of more intimate physical contact. They _both asked_. He nods and moves closer to James, the older man enveloping him in a strong, warm, solid hug.

In some ways, it’s better than Alec’s cuddles in the car. James feels like an anchor, keeping Q from floating away, and he tries to burrow closer to the warmth around him. The Dom smells vaguely of spices (maybe cinnamon?) and gunpowder (Alec smelled like Old Spice of all things, with a hint of gun oil), but both scents are overwhelmingly comforting. James has started to comb his fingers through Q’s hair, and the young Sub melts into the man’s arms completely. He doesn’t want to move… but the cold eventually pushes through the warmth and he starts to shiver again. “H-how is Scotland so-so bloody _cold_?”

James chuckles and keeps an arm around Q as he leads the younger man upstairs. “It just is. I think the only rooms you didn’t see downstairs were the library and what can only be described as a great hall. Complete with fireplace. We’ll have to build one later this week and chase away the chill.” They reach the landing and James starts naming rooms. “Alec and I have an office on the left, but it’s mostly books since this place doesn’t get cell service or internet. Well, books and weapon manuals. We often hunt while we’re here. If you want, we could teach you. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to give you some weapons training either. The rooms at the end of the corridor are the guest rooms and the master suite. We can settle you in the room next to ours if you like.”

Q nods, following James into a very austere guest room, complete with fireplace and connected to a fully renovated bathroom.

“Alec insisted when we married that I had to redo the bathrooms, put in state of the art showers and tubs.” James chuckles as he turns the lights on. “I’ll admit, it’s rather nice. He’s fond of creature comforts, my husband.”

“How did you meet?”

“I was his mission. His job was to take me out. I seduced him instead. He tells it better than I do. Get a few drinks in him tonight and he’ll probably be happy to elaborate. Now, this bathroom is yours while you’re here, and Alec and I have another one like it off our room. You can have all the privacy you want.”

It’s so much, more kindness than Q can ever remember receiving in his life. He turns and hugs James again, clinging to him. “I don’t deserve any of this,” he mumbles into the man’s black jumper.

“What makes you say that?”

But Q clams up, unwilling to revisit the memories he keeps firmly locked up in his head.

“Q, we won’t hurt you. I swear it. Alec and I will do everything we can to protect you.”

“You’re the more sensible of the pair of you?”

“Well… in a sense. I had to be a bit more mature to balance out my pyromaniac husband. Though, as he is fond of reminding me, I was every bit as bad as him in my youth. I still can be.” He winks at Q. “But I was worried we might overwhelm you if we both came on too strong. You shied away so quickly the day we met, and I didn’t want to frighten you.”

“Thank you. I… I can take things at my own pace. I would like that bath though. It’s so _cold_.”

“I know. And you aren’t used to the Scottish winters. Kincade and Alec should be back with those warmer clothes by the time you’re done.” James plugs up the tub and turns the water on, steam soon filling the room as the hot water fills the tub. “Can I get you bath oils or anything? Alec has a secret bath bomb addiction.”

That makes Q start to laugh. “Oh he never does.”

Grinning, James leads Q through to the master bedroom’s bath and opens the cupboard. “He keeps it fully stocked at all times.”

“Oh my god. Hardened killers need to unwind too, I suppose,” he smiles, picking the Sakura bomb from the cupboard. “I’ve been to the shop a few times. It’s so comforting. And this one… Thank you. I really don’t know how to thank you for all this.”

“If you want, we can work to get in touch with some of our contacts tomorrow, see if they know anything about this Silva. It might help.”

“That would be brilliant. I have a few things I can start to work on in the meantime, but that would be a huge help.” Q heads back to his bathroom and turns off the water, dropping the bath bomb into the tub. He stands there and watches it fizz for a few moments before looking back to see James in the doorway.

“Are you sure you want to be alone right now?”

 _No_. “Yes, I’ll be all right.”

“Okay. Give a shout if you need anything.” James gives a little bow and closes the door, leaving Q on his own for the first time in nearly twelve hours. The young sub strips numbly as the events of the day crash through his head, threatening to overwhelm him. He’d fucked up so badly with the codes, and now he’s with two Doms he barely knows but both of them are kind, even if they are trained killers. And they seem to genuinely care. But _he_ had too, at first-

No. _No_ , Q refuses to let his memories hold him hostage. Wrapping a towel around his waist he heads back to the door and opens it a little bit. “James?” he calls down the corridor, shivering at the colder temperature of the air out here.

The master bedroom opens quickly and James steps out. He’s taken off his shoes and rolled up his sleeves, but otherwise he’s still fully dressed. “Is something wrong?”

“I-I don’t really want to be alone… would you come sit with me?” He can feel himself blushing a bit, but James simply nods and retrieves a chair from his room. Q heads back to the bath, dropping the towel and getting into the water before James comes into the room. It allows him a small amount of modesty, able to cover himself in the blissfully warm and cherry blossom scented bath. The Dom sets the chair down next to the tub and takes a seat.

“Thinking over the day?”

“So much has happened. I feel so stupid. Silva took a code I designed when I was nineteen and used it to infiltrate, from what I can tell, every layer of government and infrastructure in the country. Deleting pieces of the code must have alerted him to its detection, and then it was just a matter of tracing everything back to my laptop.” He sighs and sinks a little further under the water. “I _know_ better. I know how to mask my movements far better than I did. Why was I so careless?”

“You were curious. And you discovered something that wasn’t supposed to be there. You did what you could. And, if you don’t mind me asking, what kind of a code was it?”

“I’m still really proud of it. It’s a self-mutating code that’s designed to protect itself against hacking. Every time you try to gain access, it changes. I developed and sold it which helped me fully set up my hacking business while I build websites as my day job.”

“I’m impressed. You’re a clever little boffin, far more than Alec and I imagined.”

“Most people underestimate me. I’m used to it.” Q sinks briefly under the water to wet his hair and wash his face, coming back up and wiping water from his eyes before working it through his curly, dark hair.

“May I?” James asks.

Q twists to look up at him, hesitating slightly before nodding. “Okay.”

James moves closer and wets his hands before slowly combing them through Q’s hair. He works through the tangles and washes the parts that are still mostly dry. To Q, it’s like he’s receiving a head massage, and he can feel the tension further draining from his limbs. “Ohhhhh that’s nice. I see why Alec sticks around. That and your cooking.”

The Dom chuckles and adds a little more water to Q’s hair. “It’s been so long since either one of us have been able to care for a Sub. More than just welcoming one into our bed. Like proper care and feeding and settling… Thank you for letting us help you like this.”

“You’re welcome.” Q bites his lip, finally settling on a change of subject. “You speak as though you’re a gentleman but I’ve also heard you begging for some quite obscene things in the middle of the night,” Q teases. “Is Alec that good?”

“He is, and he refuses to admit that I’m better. I had quite the reputation in my day. Lady’s man, man’s man, a fantastic lover to boot. But I settled down a bit when I met Alec. He keeps plenty of adventure in my life. We’ve talked though, many times, about wanting a Sub. About wanting to find someone who matches us both. That we can care for and support and, I suppose, complete us. Not all of our instincts can be completely settled without a Sub.”

“I suppose that makes sense. Is that also why you have always been cordial with me?”

“That’s more out of a sense of respect. Respecting you and your space and your privacy. We wouldn’t want to infringe on that. To make you feel like you had to hide or run from us. And you made your boundaries known that first day.” James rinses Q’s hair, connecting a few details. “Q, has someone not respected that in the past for you?”

All Q can do is nod once. “P-please don’t make me talk about it right now,” he whispers, suddenly close to tears. He hears the chair scrape across the floor and then James is pulling him close, soaking the Dom’s jumper in the process.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” James murmurs. “I’m so sorry someone disrespected and hurt you. We never would. I promise.”

They stay like that until Alec and Kincade return, Q sobbing in the tub while James comforts him and continues to stroke his hair.

***

“You _never_ did!”

Alec grins and polishes off his drink. “Oh yes I did. The cupboard was the closest private room. Nearly lost an eye to a broom handle. I’ll have you know James was quite the lover. Kinky bastard.”

The blond Dom smirks and sips his Scotch, refilling Alec’s glass and nodding. “And did he ever beg. Couldn’t bloody get enough, but he wasn’t allowed any rewards until he swore not to kill me as soon as I did. Then we turned on the ones who hired him and we’ve been together ever since.”

Q leans back in his chair, thoroughly bundled up in a warm, wool knit jumper and thermal pyjama pants along with warm, fuzzy slippers. He’s holding his own glass of Scotch as they all drink after dinner. “You two have always been crazy for each other, then?”

“Mmmmm, we have. Alec is insatiable.”

“Oi, look who’s talking. He once blew me on a hit, and I still made the shot. Right between the eyes.” Alec actually looks pleased with himself, even as James kicks him under the table and Q snorts into his drink.

“Don’t scar the poor lad,” James chides, even as Alec winks at the young Sub.

“Come off it, James. He’s enjoying himself. I think he likes hearing our stories. God knows he’s heard us fucking plenty of times.”

Q’s ears turn red. “Don’t remind me. I had to buy earplugs and noise cancelling headphones just to try and sleep. They didn’t work, if you’re wondering.”

Neither man looks particularly sorry at the admonishment. If anything, they’re just grinning more. “Mhmmm. Wild and crazy porn sex,” Alec says, unable to make it through with a straight face and dissolving into laughter.

“And that’s you cut off.” James caps the bottle and sets it down on the table, finishing his own and sighing contentedly. “The radiators are finally on. But I’ll fix hot water bottles all the same. Helps with the chill.” He smiles at Q and stands to fix them, noticing how the young Sub yawns and tries to hide it.

“You all right, lad?” Alec murmurs, looking to Q.

“Yeah, just tired I think. It’s been a long day. A really long day.”

“Well, you can rest easy tonight. No one will get through us. You have my word.”

“A drunken Northerner’s word?” Q teases.

“He’s got you there, Alec,” comes the equally teasing quip of James by the sink, filling water bottles with hot water.

“I’m wounded,” Alec says in mock offense, making Q grin as he finishes his own drink. He doesn’t drink as frequently as the Doms, but he’s always liked Scotch. The burn as it goes down is helping keep him warm. Alec polishes off his drink and stands, holding out a hand to Q who takes it. He helps the Sub up and gently rubs his shoulders. “Are you warm enough?”

Q nods, blushing a little as the Doms lead him upstairs and get him settled in his bed.

“You know where we are if you need anything. Try and get some rest.” They both leave as Q wraps himself in blankets with the water bottle warming his feet at the bottom of the bed. He lays down, curling up and closing his eyes… only to find that sleep eludes him. Completely.

***

He lays there, tries different positions, counts sheep, everything he can think of. It’s just too _quiet_ here, in the middle of bloody nowhere, and after four hours, he says sod it all, and gets up to walk around the house. He grabs his glasses and heads out into the corridor and back downstairs.

Q manages to find the great hall, staring at the huge windows on the far end because he isn’t the only one unable to sleep. James looks over from where he stands in his own pyjamas but doesn’t move. He lets Q make his own way over, joining him to look out over the estate.

“You can’t sleep either?”

James shakes his head and exhales slowly. “Alec can sleep like the dead when he chooses to. But today was long for me too,” he murmurs, glancing down at the younger man. “Why did you come to us? Why really?”

Q twists his hands, staring down at his feet before answering. “Because I think part of me trusts you. I didn’t know where else to turn or have anone else to turn to. I was scared and thought that maybe I would have a chance, even a small one, if I came to the two of you.” _And because I’ve had a thing for you both for nearly a year and won’t let myself do anything about it._

“You don’t have a Dom at all?” When Q shakes his head, James reaches over and slowly takes the hacker’s hand in his own callused one. “If you ever wanted… Alec and I would be happy to…”

“Don’t offer just because you feel sorry for me.”

“That’s not my intention, Q. We genuinely care for you.”

“You barely know me.”

“All right, I’ll drop it.”

They stand in silence for a few more moments, before Q speaks again. “I’ve been hurt. Badly. I’m broken, not worth it, James,” he whispers. “You don’t want me.”

The Dom is speechless to hear such self-loathing and resignation in Q’s voice. Can the lad really not see how amazing he is? “We don’t think you’re broken. You’re a very strong young man who has been through a great deal. You’re resilient… Alec left out part of the story. Before we got together, he shot me.”

Q looks up, eyes wide in surprise. James chuckles and pulls down the shoulder on his shirt to show Q a starburst scar there. “It was the only way to bring me back to his employers, get us close enough to take them out. I think he’s still apologizing for it even know. Both of us have plenty of scars too. And if you want to know anything about us, you only have to ask. We won’t hide anything from you.”

He watches as Q processes the story, smiling fondly as the young Sub moves closer to press against James’s side. He wraps an arm around the younger man and they stand there, staring out at the darkness over the moors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Q is finally starting to warm to James and Alec. Just a heads up that he has quite a tragic backstory that will come up sometime in the next few chapters. I'll post warnings as we get there.


	6. If You Want...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first proper day at Skyfall, and James and Alec are worried about their young charge.

Q is awake to see the sunrise through his window.

He had stood with James for at least an hour before the Dom had gently escorted him back to bed, but Q had spent the night staring at the ceiling and thinking. About _everything_. About going into hiding, about dropping for actual Doms, about trying to counteract the code he’s stolen from Silva… all of it.

And it’s not just everything on his mind. Even with the jumpers and the thermals, the hot water bottle and the down comforter, he still has trouble staying warm. He trembles and curls up on himself throughout the night in a vain attempt to stay properly warm. Everything just compounds and keeps him from relaxing and sleeping. It’s not the first time he’s gone without sleep, but it’s certainly the first time that anyone has cared that he hasn’t slept.

Because James and Alec notice as soon as he comes downstairs.

Q comes down fully dressed in a fresh jumper and with clean thermals underneath his clothes. He walks into the kitchen and hides a yawn behind his sleeve while rifling through cupboards looking for tea. James and Alec are already there, nursing cups of coffee, but Q’s so intent on his hunt for his normal morning beverage that he doesn’t notice them at first.

The Doms glance at each other, nodding before speaking up. “Q?” James says quietly.

The Sub jumps a little and spins around, calming when he sees it’s just his de facto bodyguards. “Morning. Is there tea? I need Earl Grey.”

“I got a box at the shops yesterday,” Alec says. “It’s on the second shelf in the cupboard to your left.

Q opens the door and gets the box down, opening it and taking out a teabag. “Thanks.” He pours himself a mug of hot water to let the tea steep for a while. He stands, leaning against the counter instead of sitting at the table.

“Is everything all right? You don’t look like you slept much.”

Q shakes his head. “No, spent the night thinking. And this house is so drafty.”

“Can we tell you what we’re planning today? So you know?”

“Does it concern me?”

“It does. And concerns keeping you safe as well.”

Q checks his tea, looking around for milk and sugar. “Okay, tell me.”

Alec chuckles. “All right, we’re going to reach out to several of our contacts today. They’re very discrete and we won’t give names or anything. But they can do some digging while we protect you here. I’m heading out to do that while James stays here. He can try to figure out why the radiators aren’t as warm as they should be.”

James rolls his eyes and nudges his husband. “What Alec _means_ is that one of us needs to stay around you at all times, for your protection. All right?”

Q nods once, testing the temperature of his tea before drinking half of it and scalding his throat in the process. He splutters a little but the heat is a welcome distraction from the panic still lurking at the edges of his mind.

“Okay. Okay, Q, please come sit with us. There’s something else we wanted to talk about. And you don’t have to hurt yourself staying away. We both can see you keeping as much distance as possible. We won’t hurt you. We’re going to protect you, kotyonok.” Alec looks genuinely concerned, almost like he wants to get up and help ease the burning in Q’s throat.

The Sub sits down at the table, folding himself into an empty chair, sipping his tea, and looking between the two men. “Okay then. What is it?”

“After yesterday, Alec and I had a discussion about your wellbeing, about how best to keep you safe. And what we decided is we want to offer to be available Doms for you. At least for the time we’re staying here. Dropping in the car probably won’t be the first time you might be at risk of that here, especially with how stressful your situation is. We thought that it might be helpful for you to be able to come to us. Even if you just need a hug or a pat on the back. This is if you want, we aren’t going to push it. This is up to you.”

Q gets very quiet and stares into his tea for several minutes before looking up at the Doms. “If, and that’s a big if. _If_ I agree to this, there won’t be any physical punishment or physical retaliation of any kind. It will be _my_ choice. My safeword is binary. I expect you to respect that.” He stares at both of them, his green eyes very cold and steely. “Understood?”

Both Doms nod in unison. “Q, there’s no pressure on you to accept this. We are really just concerned with your wellbeing.” James leans forward a little, offering his hand.

Q scrambles back from the table, eyes wide and heart hammering against his ribs. He stares at both of them for a long moment before running out of the room and back upstairs. James and Alec wince a little to hear the guest room door slam.

“Well. That went well.” He sips his coffee and leans back in his chair, looking to James.

“He looked like a dear in the headlights. Who hurt him to scare him that badly?”

“I don’t know but if they’re still alive I want to leave them with a third eye in the middle of their forehead.”

“I feel the same. He looked so scared, like I was going to hit him-”

The both look at each other, realization hitting them at the same time. “Okay. Well, let him come to us. If he doesn’t come down for meals, we can make a tray and leave it outside the door. He’ll be okay. I think he’s overwhelmed.”

“I’m worried about him. He’s such a brilliant lad, so clever. And after the last twenty-four hours, Alec, I think he could be perfect with us.”

“All we can do is support him as best we can. I have to go, Milos is meeting me at nine.” Alec stands and kisses James deeply, tugging his husband close. “Bake some brownies. Those always get me on your side,” he teases before grabbing his coat and heading out the door. “Back in a few hours.”

James waves and exhales, cleaning up the mugs and carrying them to the sink. All right. Time to make this place smell like home.

***

Their proposition isn’t unreasonable. On the contrary, it actually makes Q feels warm inside to think of letting the Doms help him, of thinking that they actually _want_ him. They’ve come to _him_ with this idea after all.

Yeah, it seems like maybe a good idea. Initially at least, until blind panic at the possibility of losing control, surrendering control, having control taken from him takes over. That’s what sent him running from the room. All this stress and the close proximity to interested Doms has his memories bubbling insistently at the surface, and he feels so overwhelmed that he could cry. So instead, he sticks his head out the window for ten seconds, letting the icy air clear his head so he can work. He needs to figure out how to counteract the code. How to unravel Silva’s plan and protect the country he loves.

By lunchtime, Q has made absolutely zero progress. He stares at the screen of his laptop with unfocused eyes from lack of sleep and, surprisingly, lack of food. Two proper meals the day before suddenly have him craving food on a regular basis? He groans and pushes the computer aside, choosing instead to think again about James and Alec. Maybe he can isolate his main objection.

Well, that’s easy. He doesn’t want to lose everything again, to feel like property, to be used and broken. He doesn’t want to be _hurt_ because his Dom feels like it. He doesn’t want to be isolated and terrified again. He can’t go through it again, he _can’t_.

Q realizes he can’t see and takes off his glasses; they’ve fogged up because he’s crying. He rubs angrily at his eyes, sniffling and trying to regain control, that endless battle to feel like he’s holding the reins for his life and how desperately he wants to be able to hand them over to someone else. It’s too much to hold himself together without shattering.

At lunchtime, he hears a knock on the door. “Q? I’ve brought up a tray of food if you’re hungry. Alec just got back, said his contacts are going to see what they can dig up the next few days, all right?”

He waits for James to leave before unlocking the door and looking at the tray. James has made a fully dressed roast beef sandwich, complete with a packet of crisps on the side… and those smell like homemade brownies. Q brings the tray into his room and sits with his back against the door while he eats. They care enough to cook. They don’t expect him to cook for them. And it’s damn good food too. James knows his way around a kitchen to be sure.

Q leaves the empty tray outside the door before returning to work, leading to several more hours of staring dully at the screen of his computer and wanting to scream in frustration. He can’t see the patterns anymore, can’t think of what to type. He can’t think of anything, actually, other than how desperately he wants to be held. How badly he needs contact.

James and Alec bring him dinner (a nice rabbit stew with plenty of vegetables and a hot roll), knocking gently to announce it’s there before heading back to eat their own dinner. It pains them to see the door still shut, such a visible sign of Q’s rejection, but they’ve vowed to be patient and let the boy come to them. It’s all they can do now. They only hope he’ll be willing to let them help protect him, let them help comfort him.

***

For the second night in a row, Q can’t sleep. Every time he closes his eyes he can hear Silva’s voice and panics, thrashing until he throws the covers off and sits there, shivering in the chilly night air of the room. And after three hours of this, he gives up. Enough is bloody enough.

Getting out of bed, Q slowly leaves his room, heading quietly to James and Alec’s bedroom and opening their door. There’s enough moonlight in the hall to throw a silvery sliver of light into the room, and Q sees that both Doms are awake and talking quietly. They look up when he comes in and sit up, concerned.

“Q? Is everything all right?” James asks, blue eyes searching the boy.

The young Sub walks over to the bed and climbs in, burrowing under the blankets between them and curling up, nearly in tears all over again. “Can’t sleep. Keep panicking. Can’t think. Couldn’t work at all today… I’m willing to try. I-I think it will help me be able to work. And be okay.” He looks up at both of them, amazed at how much warmth is in this bed compared to his. “You won’t do anything without permission? You won’t force me to drop to get me to obey?”

The men look horrified at the suggestion, and James begins combing his fingers through Q’s hair. “We would never, Q. We promise.”

“Absolutely, lad,” Alec chimes in. “We wouldn’t dream of taking away your control like that. Ever.” He strokes his fingers down Q’s face to rest his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You look weary, though. Would you like to go down for us? Would it help you sleep?”

Q nods, the petting already helping drain the tension out of him. James and Alec slide down in the bed so that they’re practically wrapped around him, murmuring praise and kind words to him as they very gently touch his arms, his shoulders, his face, his hair.

“There’s a good boy. We’ll help you go down, don’t you worry.”

“That’s it, kotyonok. Close your eyes, we’ve got you. We won’t let anyone harm you.”

Q feels a hand gently ease over the nape of his neck, rubbing and caressing his skin gently, and the rest of his anxiety evaporates on the spot. His breathing evens out as he drops slowly, easing into subspace.

“Such a good boy. You’re a wonderful boy, Q.”

“Sleep, poppet. We’ve got you.”

With the hint of a smile on his lips, Q falls asleep between the two Doms. Alec slowly removes the boy’s glasses and sets them on his nightstand, sharing a fond smile with his husband. He can see the look in James’s eyes as he gazes at Q. His husband is quite smitten with the young lad.

Though, to be fair, Alec is as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got the rest of the story outlined today!!!!!! Hence, I have updated the total chapter count. (Yay!)
> 
> I know. What happened to Q, right? You will learn all in Chapter 8.


	7. Trial Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q's willing to give this a try, but James and Alec need to know more about the boffin if they're going to be able to care for him.

It takes Q several moments to wake up the next morning. He’s so warm and comfortable that he doesn’t even realize he’s smiling until he hears a soft chuckle.

“Do you think he’s awake yet?”

“I think we should let him sleep. He needs it.”

“No, I’m awake,” he mumbles, trying to open his eyes even as he yawns. “Can’t sleep with you both chattering.”

He feels fingers in his hair, gently stroking and helping him stay relaxed. “Did I sleep the whole night?”

“You did,” Alec says with a smile. “You didn’t wake up once.”

“I haven’t slept like that in a very long time. Well. If ever.” He looks up at each of them for a long moment. “Okay. You gave me a proposition yesterday. And… and it took me all day to think about it. I’m sorry I ran like that. But after last night… I’m willing to give it a trial run.” He sits up slowly, leaning back against the headboard so he can better look at the Doms; they’re both close enough that he doesn’t need his glasses. “I’m willing to see how this goes for a few days. If it works then… then maybe, we can try it for longer? But I couldn’t focus at all yesterday, no matter what I did. I couldn’t think. I was just panicked and frightened but once I was here and you both were helping… I’ve not relaxed like that in so long. I think I’ll be able to work better if you both can help… keep me settled isn’t exactly what I want. I need help keeping my mind clear. Enough that I can solve this and our lives can return to normal.” _And I can deal with secretly pining for both of you even though I won’t admit it._

James and Alec are both looking at him carefully as he finishes speaking, and then they each take one of his hands in theirs.

“I think that’s very fair. James?”

“Absolutely. I think we can manage that. Where would you like to work this morning?”

“Library, I think.”

“All right. I’ll head down and make us some breakfast after we get dressed. How about you see about a shower? And clean clothes. That always helps Alec when he can’t think straight.” James winks at his husband and gets a pillow thrown at him. He catches it easily, setting it back on the bed.

It’s a very gentle suggestion, not an order, so Q nods, pausing as he moves to get up. “Uh, where are my glasses?”

“Oh, right.” Alec hands them to Q. “You fell asleep with them on, so I put them on my nightstand. Keep them from getting broken and all.”

Q is touched and risks a small smile up at the Dom. “Thank you.”

The older man gives him a warm smile and squeezes his shoulder gently. “You’re welcome, Q.”

***

After breakfast, James and Alec take turns sitting with Q in the cushy love seat by the library fireplace while the boffin works. After trying for fifteen minutes to work without one of the Dom's in physical proximity, Q had sighed and looked up at them. "I'll need one of you to hold me while I work. I need the physical contact." They don't miss the frustration and reluctance in his voice. 

"There's no shame in being a submissive, you know," Alec murmurs as he sits down next to the boy and wraps an arm around his shoulders. "None at all."

"Mmm, sure. Tell me that again when Subs aren't expected to give up their freedom and autonomy in relationships."

"Q. Who told you that?" James asks, frowning as he builds a proper stack of logs in the fireplace.

"I lived it," the boffin replies, refusing to elaborate. With Alec holding him, he finds his rhythm fairly quickly; he no longer feels like he's drowning in cravings. Just a bit of physical contact and he feels good as new, tapping away at his keyboard as he tries to neutralize his manipulated code. But whatever Silva did to it makes it far more resilient, and this time he's trying to create a way to neutralize it completely, not just turn it off. It’s harder than he anticipated, but it can’t be impossible. He refuses to believe that.

He's so absorbed in his work that he doesn't realize when it's time for lunch. Or to swap cuddles. James comes in with a large tray stacked high with sandwiches, chopped fruit, and fresh chocolate chip cookies. He has to place his hand on Q's shoulder and slowly slide it up to the nape of the Sub's neck in order to pull him from his work. "Q? We have food,"

The boy blinks owlishly a few times before noticing the tray. He nods and closes his laptop, resigning himself to having to eat. "I don't usually have meals when I work-" he tries to protest.

"Q. We won't let you starve."

"I never said you would, but-"

"Q. Keeping you safe and helping satisfy your Sub instincts means making sure you get enough to eat. This fits into the trial run, okay?" Alec looks very stern, and Q feels something akin to a rush of appreciation at the Dom's worrying about his health. He nods and lets the men fix him a plate, though he draws the line at them feeding him, resolutely ignoring the voice in his head that craves it.

After lunch, James curls up on the sofa with Q while Alec works to clean and evaluate the state of their armory. He brings the guns back with him in batches, disassembling and reassembling them by the fire so he can keep an eye on Q as well. James alternates between watching over Q's shoulder while he works and reading his book; Alec recently convinced him to start reading _Game of Thrones_ , saying the books were wonderfully detailed and twisted. Mostly he spends his time trying to keep track of everyone.

At five, Q sighs and closes his laptop, setting it aside along with his glasses so he can rub the bridge of his nose. "I can't think anymore. I keep hitting the same problem and need a break."

James sets his book down and pulls Q a little bit closer. He strokes his fingers through the lad's hair and gently massages his scalp. "Remember to breathe. It'll help with the headaches."

Q sighs and leans against James's chest. He curls up in the man's lap and sighs softly. "Okay. This is okay. I don't mind cuddling like this."

Alec chuckles and sets his Beretta down to come join them on the sofa. "Can I get in on this?" He rubs Q's shoulders, frowning when he feels how tense and knotted they are. "Man, Q. Your shoulders are like rocks."

"Yeah... Hunched over a screen all day doesn't help."

The older man turns so he’s facing the boy’s back and really begins to dig in and relax the cramping muscles in the Sub’s shoulders. “This will help. Help you sleep, help you feel more comfortable.”

Q is slumped against James while Alec works, almost purring with pleasure. He feels cared for and relaxed and-owowowowow. “Ow! Ah, god that _hurts_.”

“Breathe through it, Q,” James murmurs in his ear. “In and out, there just like that. One more time, that’s it. Good boy.”

The man sounds so sincere, voice filled with praise for Q. He looks up at James, stares into those blue eyes, gazing up the way he had the day they met. He can feel Alec’s hands slowing down and just gently squeezing his shoulders now as he notices where Q’s attention has gone.

“What do you want, Q?” James asks, his thumb stroking down the boy’s jawbone.

“May I kiss you?”

The blond shares a look with his husband, and Alec looks both delighted and jealous. “You would get to kiss him first,” Alec grumbles but there’s no malice or anger in it, just fond amusement.

Q starts to look back at Alec, but James gently and firmly takes his chin, tilting his head up, and Q suddenly realizes just how close they are. His heart quickens a few beats, and he forgets to breathe. “Is that a yes?”

James’s eyes are smiling when he closes the distance to kiss the Sub. Q closes his own and kisses back, feeling an overwhelming rush of endorphins. He’s in a Dom’s lap, kissing a Dom, being held by two Doms. And not just any Doms either: his very hot, married neighbors. And they both seem to want _him_. Every single one of his instincts seems to smile, translating into an enthusiasm he hasn’t indulged in properly for years. James takes this in stride, slowly introducing his tongue by running it along Q’s lips until he opens his mouth, allowing the Dom to deepen the kiss. Alec, hearing the resulting surprised and very appreciative moan from the Sub means that the boy has discovered exactly how good a kisser James is. He sees Q’s fingers curl into James’s jumper as the Dom easily takes control of the kiss while letting Q set the pace. Every happy moan or tighter pull on the sweater leads to another sweep of the tongue or pleased growl from James; it’s everything Alec can do to wait his turn.

After a good five minutes, James pulls back, pressing a gentle, chaste kiss to the Sub’s lips with a fond smile. “You kiss beautifully, Q,” he murmurs. “Would you like Alec to kiss you now?”

Q looks up, excitement and surprise written across his face. “Really?” James nods and Q twists in the Dom’s lap to see the want in Alec’s eyes. “Really?”

“Oh yes. Really. If that’s all right?”

The sub nods eagerly, but when Alec doesn’t move, he frowns. James leans forward and presses a kiss to Q’s ear. “Verbal confirmation, Q. So that we’re absolutely sure it’s what you want. All right? Now. Do you want Alec to kiss you?”

“ _Yes_.” Q barely says the word before Alec leans forward and captures the boy’s mouth in a deep kiss. He’s more demanding than James, skipping the formalities in favor of stroking his tongue along Q’s and ever so gently tugging the boy’s hair.

The sub whimpers, and it helps that James is holding him too because Q almost launches himself into Alec’s lap at that. The next twenty minutes just consist of the men passing Q back and forth, trading kisses and moans, holding him and settling him until his lips are bruised and he’s half under and smiling. He looks a little dazed, and James nuzzles his neck. “Are you all right, pet?”

“Oh yeah… I-it’s been-I haven’t-not for… can we add that to the list of things that are okay?”

“Absolutely,” Alec says, laughing. “You’re a delightful kisser. Don’t you agree, James?”

“Oh I do. Definitely. Lovely and responsive.” He smiles warmly at Q and kisses him gently. “All right. Dinner. Do you want to walk or shall we carry you?”

Q tries to stand, determined to do it himself except that his legs won’t support him. “Uh… carry me? Just to the kitchen though.”

James nods and scoops Q up, Alec following right behind as they head in to make dinner.

***

Q wakes in bed with James and Alec again the next morning; two nights of good sleep in a row has him feeling really rested and strange. He doesn’t remember when he last felt this alert. There’s a lot of things he can’t seem to remember feeling lately, and maybe because he feels _good_. He mentions this at breakfast, not missing the look the Doms share. He almost thinks _his_ Doms, but stops himself. There’s nothing good that can come from that.

“So we’re thinking that after lunch we could take you for an hour or two of target practice. We would both feel better if we knew you could defend yourself if need be.”

Q nods, sipping his tea. “That’s reasonable. I have a few ideas of things I can try with that code. Um, in terms of where we’re working today… is there a sofa where you both could sit? Since I sleep so well with both of you holding me, I’m wondering if that will improve my ability to work too.”

Alec smiles and James steals a kiss from Q. “I’ll build up a fire in the great hall. There should be space there.”

The Sub smiles and turns to Alec for another kiss. “Please?”

The Dom grins and obliges; it’s so hard to say no to the boy, especially when he asks like that. “I bet I could find something to read while you work.”

***

Four hours later, they break for lunch, and Q finds he’s smiling. Four hours of work interspersed with kisses, four hours being cuddled and held and petted by these gorgeous Doms. As much as he wants to protect himself, he’s starting to really warm to them. It doesn’t help that he’s been imagining them as his Doms off and on over the course of the last year. And now… now it seems like they want to be his Doms. Maybe this will mean he can stop obsessively imagining them all the time. It _won’t work_. He doesn’t work as a Sub, doesn’t work with full time Dominants…

“Q? Q are you all right?”

He blinks and realizes both men are looking at him concernedly. “We’ve been trying to get your attention for five minutes. It’s time to eat.”

He shakes his head a little and nods. “No, yeah, I’m fine. Food, yes. Let’s do that.”

After they eat (James and Alec a little worried when Q doesn’t finish his sandwich), they bundle up and retrieve some of the weapons from the gun room before heading outside. James has a box of empty cans they can use as targets, and Alec is running through some of the details about the shotgun, handgun, and hunting rifle he’s carrying while Q listens intently.

“Okay, I think I got it. Let me try?” He takes the shotgun from Alec while James sets up the cans on a low brick wall fifteen feet away. Q loads the shotgun and swings it up, taking careful aim. He breathes out slowly and squeezes the trigger.

The middle can pings and falls back of the wall.

James and Alec both stare at him as he cocks the gun and empties the other barrel in the can to the right, cleanly knocking it off as well. “Q… where did you learn to shoot?”

“I’m not a total shut in. I do know my way around weapons.” The Sub smirks up at their astonished faces. “And I had a boyfriend when I was eighteen who was an enthusiast. Used to take me to a firing range on the weekends, but then I got better than him. So we broke up. I also thought for a while that I might want to go into some kind of engineering or design. I’ve always appreciated well make gadgets and weapons. I usually go practice once a month, just to stay in shape so to speak.”

The Doms are thoroughly impressed and more than a little intrigued. They spend the next hour testing Q’s skills at different distances with the different guns they’ve brought out. He only misses one of the targets, and that’s only when James throws a can high up into the air and the afternoon glare from the sun gets in Q’s eyes. As they head in, the young boffin shivering from the cold, James and Alec share an inquisitive look, resolving to gently ask Q later.

“Okay, you need a bath so you can thaw. I’ll make us an early dinner and we can spend the evening in front of the fire. How does that sound?”

“That’s fine.” The boy seems distracted and distant, worrying the Doms, but they let him head upstairs to bathe.

“Did you know he could shoot?”

“No! I had no idea. He’s really damn good, too. He could have been a hit man with that aim.”

“Or some kind of agent. And he’s a hacker. There’s more about him that we don’t know than we do. And it’s very clear that somewhere along the way, someone hurt him very badly. You’ve seen how skittish he can be. He clearly craves physical comfort but he’s scared of it. And he seems to resent his Dynamic.”

“I know… Okay. Dinner, and maybe a little bit of Scotch. Keep him warm and help us all relax.”

“You think everything can be solved with alcohol, don’t you?”

“No, not everything… some things respond better to gunshots. Or sex.”

James rolls his eyes but he’s smiling. “Even though I’m usually the more adult one of the two of us, I love your wicked side.”

“It wouldn’t kill you to indulge your more flirtatious side either.”

“You want me to be flirtations, Trevelyan?” James’s voice drops half an octave as he stalks forward, backing his husband up against the wall. “Are you sure?”

“Jesus, how did you ever settle down?”

The blond nips Alec’s neck and smirks. “You know that thing you do with your cock? That’s how.”

He heads to the kitchen with Alec behind him, the other Dom cackling with laughter.

***

As much as he tries to eat well, Q spends most of dinner picking at his food and maybe managing to finish a third of the meal. He’s preoccupied with James and Alec, with trying to put his emotions and instincts back in check, despite the trial run. He’s so distracted that James and Alec are able to lead him to the great hall and pour him a Scotch without him realizing it. He looks up and notices the change a few minutes later, frowning. “When did we move?”

“We’ve been here long enough to get the fire going. Q, are you all right?”

He stares into his drink and shakes his head. “No. Not really.”

“Well, we were wondering something. You go by Q but that must stand for something. Do you mind if we ask what?”

Q looks up at Alec, frowning still. “You’ll laugh.”

“No, I promise we won’t.”

The Sub takes a sip and stares into the fire. “It’s short for… for Quartermaster. That’s my hacker name. Quartermaster. I guess it’s from learning to shoot and wanting maybe to design arms. And I’ve always been partial to maritime stories, and I always thought the master of arms would have an interesting job. So I took it as a codename. It feels general enough that it protects me. Gives me anonymity.”

“What got you started, like properly started? You said you developed the mutating code when you were nineteen. Did you do much coding and computer work before then?”

“You really want to know?”

“We wouldn’t ask if we didn’t.”

“But are you sure? You won’t leave if I tell you?”

James and Alec exchange a look and both of them squeeze Q’s shoulders in encouragement. “We won’t go anywhere.”

Q drains his glass and holds it out to James for a refill. “I’ll need more if you want me to tell this story, so just refill it please.”

The blond does, and Q leans back against the sofa, gathering his thoughts before he decides where to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tragic Backstory coming in the next chapter.


	8. Demons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q shares his past with James and Alec.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is from the Imagine Dragons song of the same name.
> 
> TW- abusive relationship

“I know I mentioned to you both that I never knew my parents. My earliest memories are of the foster system, older ‘siblings’ teasing and punching me for being too scrawny and having shit eyesight. That first family tried a little bit, but I clearly wasn’t a good fit. I was four when they transferred me to another home. From that point I moved every eighteen months to two years, give or take. Always another family, always more drama and more shite to deal with. I dressed to be invisible. Baggy clothes, oversized cardigans, anything to be ignored and left alone. I read everything I could get my hands on.”

“I’m past most of it now. Except the family I was with when I realized I would never be a Dom. I’d always had a hunch but hoped I would surprise myself.” He chuckles darkly. “No such luck. And the foster father had no problem hurling insults at me. Being gay was bad enough in his eyes. But a gay submissive? Might as well sew a pink triangle to my clothes. I did everything to suppress what I was in that house.” He sips his Scotch and exhales slowly. “It’s where my shame about my Dynamic mostly comes from, I suppose.”

“So sometime between thirteen and fourteen, when I began to realize my Dynamic, I began exploring computers more intently. I’d always excelled at technology related courses in school, so hacking was really just a branch off of that. The house with the horrible father was the last. I emancipated myself the day I turned sixteen and never looked back.”

“I got a nighttime job working IT to pay rent at a shared house while I finished school. Aced all my A levels the day before I turned eighteen. I didn’t want to leave London, so I accepted the offer I had from Imperial College to study computer science. My roommate that year was my first official boyfriend as opposed to the various hookups I found before then. He’s the one who taught me how to shoot. Roy. Changed roommates when we broke up, and at the end of the year, I signed up for as many summer courses as they would let me. Worked nonstop all summer and came back with enough credits to take me halfway through my second year of school. A whole semester ahead.”

“I went to a club towards the end of the summer looking to blow off some steam and met him. Colin.” Q’s gripping his glass hard enough to turn his knuckles white. “Went back to his after a night of drinks and dancing… I’d been with Doms before, more fumbles and quick gropes than anything, but he was a proper man. A real Dom. He was twenty-two and he was the first Dom I ever properly knelt for. The first time he helped me down… I could finally see what Subs raved about, what the books and music and films and everyone was on about. It was bliss. I didn’t worry, wasn’t thinking about anything other than what I could do to make him happy. Serve him.” Q is too wrapped up in his memories to see the look of worry James and Alec share. The Sub drains his glass and holds it out for more; James refills it and Q continues.

“Everything was good for the first few months. Regular sex, no unexpected drops, cuddling while I studied and he did work. He was an accountant. I moved off campus and into his flat the day he collared me. I smiled for a full week when that happened. But as the weather changed and November rolled in… he started to change. When I think back on it, he had pushed for me to move in, away from campus. The commute wasn’t bad or anything, but it was enough to discourage me staying late or going out with my mates from class. Once I was under his roof all the time, he started to set more rules. When I would sleep, eat, shower, what I could and couldn’t say. I had told him I loved him already. Told him on our two-month anniversary. And I thought I was. I really did.” He sighs and swallows, reaching for James’s hand and squeezing so hard the Dom thought his fingers might fracture.

“Right before Christmas that year, I did something. I think I didn’t have all my shopping done and wanted to go out to a sale to find a gift. I had my eye on something I knew he would like. But it meant I would get back later than usual, and he’d insisted on a curfew for both of us the week before… but I didn’t have his gift and if I missed the sale, I wouldn’t have what I really wanted to give him. So I took the long way home to make the sale, came home half an hour late. He screamed at me when I came through the door, and when I started to explain…” Q lets go of James’s hand and touches his own cheek, rubbing it, remembering. “He slapped me. Open palm. Right across the face.”

Both Doms inhale sharply, anger and a fierce protectiveness for Q flaring through them at even the suggestion that Q had been treated like this. The Sub hears and smiles thinly. “He apologized as soon as it happened, but I stood there clutching my face and weeping, begging him for how I could fix things. Asking how I could be better. I didn’t want that to happen again, so sure it was my fault and that I could fix it. So he told me.” Q begins counting off on his fingers. “Curfew every night. No more staying after school with my mates. Had to do all my work at his place, under his supervision. Within a week he had me completely cut off except for the classes I kept attending. Except for school, I was a prisoner.”

He stares into the fire and leans forward, dropping his gaze to the amber liquid in his glass. “I hated it. For the first time, I resented him. I wanted out, wanted to leave. So I packed… when he saw the bags and confronted me, I thought he was going to strike me but what he did was so much worse. He forced me to drop.” Q can’t quite finish the sentence without his voice cracking, so he drains his glass again. “He kept me down for two days until I promised I would never leave him.”

“That’s when I doubled down on my hacking.”

“During the previous summer I’d discovered that I was actually pretty good at it. I kept practicing during school, never at his place in case he figured out what it was. I kept my laptop with encryptions for certain files, masking them to look harmless but impossible to open by anyone other than you. But after that drop, I really focused. Because I had almost finished my self-mutating code. Originally I had thought I could use it as thesis material, use it to suggest improvements for cybersecurity networks. Nearly had it stolen out from under me too. Someone hacked my laptop but I was able to shove them out before they took it. It was a close thing. That’s why the laptop I work on now has no internet capabilities at all. Did the modifications myself.”

“When I finished the code, I put out word on the hacker forums. Willing to sell it to the highest bidder. I needed money if I was going to get away. And while I waited for a reply, I hacked into the Met Police servers and looked if he had a file. Bastard did, with previous complaints of domestic abuse. And every time they let him go. Unsubstantiated evidence. Well then. Bugging the flat was almost too easy. I cut class and got home one day while he was in a meeting, and for the next week, the bugs recorded everything.”

“Before I sent the videos into the Met, I doctored them. Removed my name and blurred my face. I wanted nothing to do with it. I just wanted him gone. I included photos of every bruise I hadn’t asked for, every time he’d forced me into something I didn’t want. I was at school when they arrested him, but I got an alert on my mobile. Got the whole thing on video. He was home that day, not at work. Sold my code that day. I’d taken my computers and important things with me to school that day. I could buy new clothes. And I did. I never went back to that flat.”

“But because the Sub he’d abused in the videos didn’t come forward, even with the evidence he got let go. So there I was, living in a hole in the wall flat, dropped out of school in the end because I couldn’t focus at all, all because I’d gone and bloody trusted him. Opened myself to him. He took _everything_ from me. All control. My autonomy. May as well have taken my name because I don’t use it anymore. The day he got arrested is the day I took Q as my name. I hacked every single legal document I could find and deleted every record, every trace of me from every system. I removed myself from the equation in order to hide from him. It took maybe a year before I felt safe at clubs, and I never went with anyone. Stayed by the bar near a bouncer the whole time. Two years after and I started sleeping with Doms again. Never gave my name or my letter. Gave fake names, never went to the same place twice. Never let myself go fully under again. Not for anyone. Until the car three days ago. You’re the first Doms I’ve willingly dropped for in five years. I don’t trust because of him. Never let people in.”

The silence is only broken by the crackling fire before them. James and Alec need several minutes before either one of them are able to speak. They can see exactly how much pain Q is in, how it hurt him to say all that, confide in them. But once he’d started, they hadn’t wanted to interrupt.

“What happened to that cunt?” Q stares up in shock at James. His blue eyes look absolutely murderous, but, surprisingly, it doesn’t frighten Q.

“Can we kill him? Torture him? Make him regret every single thing he ever did to you?”

As it turns out, when Alec gets really angry, his voice growls more and his accent slips; he sounds Russian now. “I’ll rip the balls off that mudak.”

“You can’t. He’s dead.”

“What?!”

“Are you sure?”

“He left the country for America after he was released and wound up a victim of mass shooting. He’s already gone.”

He feels the Doms sink back against the back of the sofa and process the information in disbelief. Q just continues to stare into the fire until he hears them speak.

“There’s nothing we can do about your memories, Q. It all happened, and we both _hate_ the fact that you were hurt so badly. Disrespected so horribly.”

“A Dom should never restrict a Sub’s freedom like that,” James adds. “A Dom should care for the needs of the Sub, protect him, love him as he is, not try to change him. He should cherish the gift he has, because it is. It’s a gift to be lucky enough to find a Sub who wants to be with you. Well, anyone for that matter, but in your case I’m serious. The Sub is always in control, hence the safe word. And a Dom should always respect it.”

“A relationship shouldn’t mean the end of freedom. In some ways, it should mean more. I have way more freedom with James than I ever did on my own. And we both believe you deserve to experience the best of the world. To be loved and cherished as the gift you are. Because Q-”

Alec strokes the boy’s hair as James smiles at him. “ _You_ are a gift. You’re a brilliant young man who had to grow up faster than anyone should, who has been fighting for himself his whole life. You don’t have to fight anymore. You can let go.”

“I’m so _scared_.”

“We know.” Alec gently turns the lad’s head to look into his eyes. “But we can be here for you now. The past is well and truly dead. _He_ is dead. We would never do that. You’ve had a year of listening to us, both with and without our knowledge to attest to that.”

Q gives a wet chuckle, fighting to hold back tears. “But what if-”

“Q,” James murmurs, very gently squeezing his shoulder. “The world is filled with what ifs. But when we let them rule us, they destroy us. I can’t dwell on them with Alec because I know we would both drown in a river of Scotch.” Alec chuckles and nods in agreement as James continues. “When you’re with us, how do you feel? What do your instincts tell you?”

“That you’re safe.” He doesn’t hesitate. He doesn’t have to.

“There you go. Did you ever feel unsafe with him?”

Q nods and bursts into tears, burying his face in James’s jumper and reaching behind him to grab Alec’s hand. The Doms instantly move so that Q is better situated in their laps with James cradling him and Alec rubbing his back and holding his hand.

“Oh kotyonok, it’s okay. Let it all out, there’s a good lad. You’re a very good boy, Q.”

“We’ve got you. You’re safe here, poppet.”

James kisses Q’s forehead and strokes through his hair, rocking him ever so slightly as Q cries himself out. When Q can no longer breathe, James pulls out his handkerchief and hands it to the Sub so he can blow his nose. “How do you feel, Q?”

The Sub whispers something so softly that James and Alec can’t make it out. “Can you repeat that, Q?”

“My name… it isn’t Q… it’s Danny.”

Both Doms hug him then, covering his head and shoulders and hands with kisses and murmured praise and encouragements.

“Thank you for trusting us.”

“We will do everything we can to be worthy of it.”

“Just tell us if anything triggers you or is too close to something upsetting.”

“All we ask is you communicate. We will respect your boundaries.”

“We promise.”

“ _Binary_.”

Both Doms move back swiftly, as if branded. Q stares at them, wide eyed with tears running down his face. “ _It worked_ ,” he whispered, and James and Alec think their hearts might break. Q looks between them, trembling. “Okay, please hold me again, I’m gonna go to pieces.

***

When Q finally runs out of tears, he finds himself laying down in their laps with a blanket draped over him. The Doms are stroking his hair and down his arm, occasionally squeezing the back of his neck to reassure him that they’re there.

“Never went to therapy. Probably should have… but didn’t. Never told anyone the whole story.”

“We’re really glad you told us, Danny.” God, Q could listen to his voice on James’s tongue for the rest of his life and never hate it again. It sounds like molten chocolate on the man’s tongue.

“Truly. And we will wait as long as you want, take everything at your pace,” Alec chimes in with a gentle kiss to Q’s temple.

“Well, it’s not like I haven’t had sex since it happened. I’ve just not fully submitted to anyone since. Not even at clubs. That’s where I draw the trust line. But… god… I just feel so _safe_ here. I would consider going down like that for the two of you. I think.”

“Take all the time you need, solnyshko.”

Q looks up at Alec and raises an eyebrow, making James laugh.

“He just called you ‘small sun’, pet. It’s okay.”

James and Alec continue to stroke his hair and sit in front of the fire as it envelops them in its golden warmth. Q feels exhaustion sink into his limbs from the emotional upheaval and the crying. Maybe, he thinks as he closes his eyes (just for a moment, he tells himself), maybe they’re all right. Maybe he’ll accept their offer and have this whole thing extend past the time they’re in hiding.

And just maybe, he thinks as he falls asleep, they could help him finally move forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes. Tragic Backstory unlocked, but look how far Q has come. He's not completely past it all perhaps, but speaking it and trusting James and Alec will go so far to helping him heal.
> 
> mudak- dickhead


	9. Bedroom Hymns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q needs a break from trying to crack the code, but he's too tense and anxious to relax without help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: porn ahead. Just saying. The tags have been updated accordingly.

Two days later and Q still hasn’t made any significant headway in cracking Silva’s code. He slams his laptop closed in frustration and flops sideways on the sofa, into James’s lap. The Dom chuckles and ruffles Q’s hair affectionately. “Frustrated, darling?”

“I can’t crack it. I can’t see what I’m supposed to do, how I’m supposed to fix it. It’s my own bloody code at heart though. You’d think I could do it. But the bastard changed it just enough that it keeps blocking me.”

“You’ll figure it out. We have faith in you, Danny. How about you take a break, see if that helps. You’ve been staring at that screen for hours today. Besides, taking a break _could_ lead to more kisses.”

The Sub opens his eyes and looks up at James with a grin. He rights himself and sits properly in James’s lap, wrapping his arms around the Dom’s shoulders. “I think I would like that. Kisses please.”

The blond smirks and leans in slowly, waiting for Q’s eyes to close before brushing their lips together, a hint of a kiss. He waits, grinning as Q whines but doesn’t move. “ _Very_ good, Danny,” the older man growls before sealing their lips together. He holds Q’s face firmly but gently, adjusting the angle of the kiss as he pleases in order to draw more, louder moans from the younger man.

Since Q’s admission two days prior, Alec and James have been far more open about communication and asking Q to tell them what he wants. They always ask before initiating any kind of touch, and the boy has been responding quite favorably. The Sub, on the other hand, is always free to initiate contact whenever he wants, and he has not been away from their side in two days. He spends his days curled up in their laps to work, and even during lunch today, he let James and Alec take turns feeding him by hand. He’s even happy to ask for or initiate kisses, finding them comforting and very fun. For all intents and purposes, Q feels like a Sub with two Doms: not in a kept Submissive kind of way, but in a relationship kind of way. He mentally checks with himself every few hours to see if he still feels safe with the men, and that feeling only grows stronger with each passing minute.

Kissing the Doms has turned into a way for Q to let off steam as well. James and Alec find him enthusiastic and delightfully responsive, eager to try new things and more than happy to be shared. They’ve held back from leaving any kind of marks however; they don’t want to push too quickly. They trust that Q will tell them when he’s ready.

James breaks the kiss to give Q some air, a gesture that’s received with both gratitude and reluctance. “And all this time… you seemed like a gentleman… I don’t think gentlemen kiss like that, Mr. Bond,” Q teases.

The Dom smiles and kisses Q again. “Oh yes. Yes they do. Especially when they get to kiss wonderful Subs like you, pet.”

“That goes the same for Alec then?”

“What goes the same for me, lad?”

Q turns in James’s lap and beams. “You’re back!”

The grey-eyed Dom smiles, striding over to the couch to kiss them both, James first, then Q. “I am,” he murmurs against the Sub’s lips. “And I come back bearing news.”

James and Q sit up a little straighter, the Dom stroking Q’s hair to help him stay calm. “What did Milos find?”

“Well, it turns out that your Silva went by a different name when he got his start in Spain. Tiago Rodriguez was a civil activist who tried to escape the authorities by immigrating to Britain. He was rejected and sentenced to return to Spain and stand trial for interfering with public elections and conspiracy to blow up several state buildings. From what Milos could tell, he attempted suicide in the prison and it failed. He then escaped and changed his name to Raoul Silva. When that trail ended, Milos also reached out to Anton, and he was able to find evidence that Silva has been dabbling in hacking for the past five or six years. He’s been rigging elections, manipulating stock markets, influencing uprisings. The rumors place him working on something big in Britain, but no one is entirely sure what that is or when he plans to strike.”

“From what I saw, he’s going to take out the entirety of London’s infrastructure, all of it. He just has to issue the right command and all the pieces of code he’s hidden away will activate at once. After examining the piece I saved to my laptop, it’s clear he’s redesigned my initial program to prevent effective restart for several days at least while redirecting access to him. That would give him so much time to wreak havoc on the country. Do whatever he pleases. He would have sole control over the country. I have to figure out how to crack it. I’m just… stuck.”

Alec leans in and kisses the Sub, stroking his cheek with the pad of his thumb. “You must be hungry. It’s dinner time anyway. Then a good night’s sleep. Maybe that will help. You probably just need to look at it from a different angle.”

***

Six more hours the following day of looking at the code, attacking it, trying to unravel it, and Q is _still_ stuck, only now it just makes him want to cry. He sets his laptop aside and rubs at his eyes tiredly. He doesn’t feel as well rested today, but that might have something to do with the content of his dreams the previous night. Q had woken that morning from a very heated dream where he had been sandwiched between both Doms while they had kissed him and touched him… he blushes now to think of the moans his dream-self had made.

“What are you thinking about, pet?”

He looks up to see James watching him carefully, and from the pressure on his shoulder, Alec’s resting his hand there. “I… nothing.”

“Danny, are you all right? Is everything okay?”

“No, I’m fine. I’m just distracted.”

“Anything we can help you with?”

A loaded question if there ever was one. Q turns a bright red and mumbles a response under his breath. James and Alec have a hunch and share a secret smile.

“Can you say that a little louder?”

“I’m embarrassed,” Q says, staring at his hands. “Because it feels like it’s really soon and too fast, though in a sense it isn’t. I’ve been listening to the pair of you for a whole year now. But I-I can’t stop thinking about the two of you. In a… in a sexual way.” He flushes again and looks up only to find both Doms barely concealing grins. “What?”

“We had a hunch it might have something to do with that.”

“What do you mean?”

The Doms share another look and then look down fondly at the Sub. “You were rather, ah, vocal in your sleep last night.”

 _Oh god. Oh no_. “I wasn’t… oh please tell me I wasn’t.”

“You were, kotyonok. James and I were quite interested in it too. You mentioned our names several times.”

The poor boy is blushing all the way to the tips of his ears. “I-I have no defense. I was dreaming of you both and found it… pleasant. It’s the first time it’s been a full dream though. Usually I just… zone out. And no wonder,” he adds, huffing. “I’ve had to listen to your crazy porn sex for a whole bloody year. And I-I’ve… I’ve had a thing for you both since we met, all right? I never said anything because I was sure nothing could happen. I didn’t want to come between the two of you…” He trails off as he realizes what he’s just said, and from the predatory smirks on Alec and James’s faces, they’ve realized it too.

“Well, we’ve been admiring you from afar for about that long as well,” James purrs, leaning close to nuzzle Q’s throat, pressing open mouthed kisses up to his ear. “And if you want it, we would be more than happy to bring you properly into our bed.”

Alec smirks and nips the other side of Q’s neck, not hard enough to leave a mark but just enough to tease. “We’ve talked about it numerous times. And if you want it too, you will set the rules. We will only do what you want. So. Tell us.” He tugs lightly on Q’s ear with his teeth. “What are your rules, pet?”

Q swallows hard, incredibly aware of the men on either side of him. Pushing through the haze of lust settling over his mind, he tries to set his boundaries. “I-I dunno. I’m not comfortable with-with bondage I don’t think… though I used to love it. I mean, I can be kinky too, but no watersports or excrement or anything like that. I like it when you talk in my ear… We’ll have to go slow… I know I like it when you both kiss me. Can we start there?”

“Are you opposed to marks?” James murmurs, kissing back down Q’s pale throat to the collar of his jumper.

A year before and Q would have panicked at the idea of being marked up by a Dom, but now? It’s James and Alec. He can’t think of two Doms he will ever want more. And even if this doesn’t last, at least he was theirs, once. “I want them. You can leave marks.”

He hears Alec give a pleased growl. “James, help hold his head for me.” The blond obeys, gently tugging Q’s hair and tilting the boy’s head to give Alec access to his throat. The Dom kisses to the juncture where Q’s neck meets his shoulder, he tugs the jumper aside, and then he sinks his teeth into the flesh there, sucking hard. The Sub cries out in pain, then pleasure as little thrills of want buzz through him. They _want_ him. They’re _marking_ him. _God_ , Alec’s mouth feels good on his skin. He whimpers and finds the sound swallowed by James’s lips as the Dom kisses him deeply.

After a few minutes, Alec switches to little licks and kisses on the now vivid purple bruise. James pulls back so his husband can smile at the Sub and kiss him gently. “You were so good for us just now. Do you want James to leave a mark too?”

“Yes.” He answers very quickly, and the Doms chuckle.

“All right then, pet,” James murmurs, nuzzling at Q’s neck. It’s Alec’s turn to hold the boy while James leaves two marks on the side of Q’s throat. The Sub can feel the blood pooling beneath his skin, finds he’s squirming a little and whimpering. The fact that Alec is whispering in his ear the whole time isn’t helping.

“You like our voices in your ear, hmmm? Oh pet, you can’t see how beautiful you are like this. The things we want to do to you. With you. How we want to have you in our bed, keep you between us while we make you feel so good. We will bring you so much pleasure, kotyonok. More than you’ve ever imagined. Imagine our mouths elsewhere, our fingers on your body. You can feel my cock against your hip now, can’t you. Feel how hard it is already? You’ve done that to me, and I would bet money that James is every bit as turned on by you.”

Q feels the suction on his neck ease up as James begins kissing the marks he’s left behind. “Danny, you look gorgeous with our marks on you,” he murmurs, kissing up to Q’s lips and burying his fingers in the boy’s hair as he kisses him this time. Alec growls and begins to kiss the back of Q’s neck, making the boy shiver. The Sub feels like he’s drowning in them, in these two men and what they’re able to do to him. In his twenty-five years, he’s never felt so alive or so at peace with his dynamic. Maybe it won’t last, maybe it’s just a little bubble of happiness in a very dark existence, but when James finally pulls back to let him breathe, he’s smiling up at the man with shining eyes. And Q is grinning because he’s discovered something. He knows what he wants.

“I want you both. I want this. Please… please sirs.” Q can see how James’s pupils blow at the word, and Alec holds him a little tighter, almost possessively. “Please take me to bed. Make me _yours_.”

At the very least, it will be a night he can remember and treasure for the rest of his life.

***

Five minutes later finds them up in the master bedroom with Q half-dressed, and it takes that long because they keep stopping to kiss and praise the Sub. Alec had managed to pin Q to the wall in the upstairs corridor for a whole minute to plunder and explore the boy’s mouth while teasing him by just barely grinding their clothed erections together. It took James whispering in his husband’s ear to move things into the bedroom.

From there, the Doms work in tandem to strip the Sub one layer of clothing at a time; since Q wears thermals and a shirt under his jumper, it takes a little longer than it might otherwise, and the three of them are giggling.

“There’s another layer! It’s like a box within a box.”

“Yes, but our Danny is the final prize,” James growls as he finally gets Q’s torso bare. He drops his head to lick at one of the boy’s nipples, making Q arch and whimper. He’s never really explored his nipples as an erogenous zone and _that_ is a nice surprise. When James begins to roll and pinch the other, Alec steadies Q, nipping up to his ear and grinding slowly against his arse.

“Alec, he’s wonderful. Responsive and eager. Absolutely perfect.” James turns Q so the other Dom can kiss him and tease his nipples as well. Q writhes between them and whines in frustration. He’s aching in his jeans and they’re being so infuriatingly slow. And then James purrs an order in his ear. “Sit on the bed, pet. And watch.”

Confused, Q sits down, but he quickly sees why. As soon as he’s clear, Alec drags James into a fierce embrace, kissing his husband with more force and power than he’s used when kissing Q, and James is giving it back as good as he’s getting. The two Doms strip each other, breaking apart only when their jumpers and shirts come off. It only takes a few minutes, but since Q understands implicitly that he shouldn’t move or touch, it is torture. They are just as gorgeous as he’s imagined the past year: all hard muscle and definition, their bodies bearing scars from their years of dangerous employment. He can see James’s bullet wound much clearer now, and Alec looks to have several knife scars on his arms. Both Doms are well fit, standing there in just their pants, and Q flushes when they turn their gazes on him.

“He looks good enough to eat, James.”

“Patience. He’s still in his jeans. Should I do the honors?”

“Oh yes.”

James moves forward, smirking wickedly at Q. His leans in as if to kiss the Sub; Q lurches forward but James shakes his head. “Hold still, Danny,” he whispers, and the Sub freezes, nodding slowly. The blond works without looking, undoing Q’s button and zip before pulling the jeans off, all while staring into Q’s eyes. When the trousers are clear, James rewards him with a bruising kiss, the kind that Q can still feel even after the Dom pulls away.

“God, James. How did we get this lucky?” Alec perches on the bed next to Q and strokes down the lad’s side. “You’re gorgeous, Danny. And you’ve been hiding a few muscles of your own under your jumpers.”

“I-I run sometimes. When I can’t think. Or I’m worried I might drop. I’m not nearly as fit as the pair of you though.”

“Nonsense. It just means we have more to pleasure you with.” James catches Q’s gaze and looks at him seriously for a moment. “All good?”

Q takes stock for a moment: all three of them almost completely naked, his neck marked with their bites, lips still tingling from their kisses. He beams up at them and nods. “Yes, yes sir. All good. The kissing and touching is good.”

He loses track of time then as the Doms kiss him with renewed energy. Almost like the first night they’d kissed, James and Alec pass Q back and forth, one leaving more love bites on the Sub’s skin while the other steals the air from the boy’s lungs. They can’t get enough of Q, and soon none of them can ignore how wound up and hard they are.

“What do you want, Danny?” James murmurs, pressing kisses to the boy’s eyelids while Alec finishes a very dark purple love bite on Q’s shoulder.

The Sub looks up at him, almost dazed. “I dunno. What do you have? What can I have?” He hears Alec chuckle and turns to look at him. “What’d I say?”

“I was just thinking of an answer to your second question. You can have _us_ , kotyonok.”

“Are you both sure? I-I really won’t come between you?”

“Not in the way you’re thinking,” James says with a grin. “But I think we fully intend to have you come between us at least once tonight. Hopefully screaming our names in pleasure… which brings us to our next query: who do you want to fuck you first?”

It’s such a dirty, intimate question, one that makes the Sub squeak. “I-I… I don’t know… I want you both to feel good too.”

“We will, pet. We already do, just from kissing you, caring for you.”

“It still doesn’t answer the question. And we won’t be offended by your choice, I promise,” Alec rumbles, hugging the boy from behind.

That seems to help Q relax a little. “You then, Alec. You first.”

The Dom peers around Q and looks down, thinking something over. “All right, but first we have to do something about you, pet. You won’t last two minutes of prep as hard as you are. Should we take the edge off, James?”

“We should. Absolutely.” The blond reaches into his end table and pulls out a brand new bottle of lube and a box of condoms. “Alec insisted we restock.”

Q grins and looks at the box. “I get tested every two months or after I go to clubs, whichever comes first. My last time was three months ago and I’m clean. So you know.” His health is one thing he’s never really had trouble discussing, and he always uses protection anyway. “So if you both are healthy too, I don’t mind not using them.”

The Doms exchange a look and then kiss him gently, one then the other. “You’re very sweet,” Alec murmurs. “And perhaps one day, I’ll take you bare, but this time I’ll be using the condom. If you ever decide you want us as your Doms permanently?” He smirks and whispers in the Sub’s ear, “Then James and I will take turns fucking you and filling you with our cum, maybe for a whole week.”

Q flushes and forgets how to breathe properly for a moment, much to James’s amusement. “Don’t completely overwhelm him, Alec.”

“But where’s the fun in that? Now, I’ll kiss him while you work him over. See if you can figure out what he likes. And just because I’ll be using a condom doesn’t mean you have to. I have a feeling he likes the feeling of a tongue on his skin.” Alec leans back against the pillows and pulls Q back next to him, perfectly positioned so he can kiss the whimpers from the Sub’s mouth. James begins kissing down Q’s body to where his pants can barely contain the Sub’s straining cock. The Dom lowers his mouth to the clothed length and mouths along it.

Q gasps loudly, arching up against James’s mouth because _finally_ some attention for his aching cock. He watches with Alec as James pulls the pants down and off his body, leaving Q completely naked. His cock springs free when released; he’s not particularly thick, but he’s a bit on the longer side, and he watches as James examines him, ever so gently touching the shaft and running a finger up and down the length.

“Are-are you sure you don’t want me to-” Q starts before James shakes his head.

“We both want you to have an amazing night. We want to give you new, amazing memories. Give you a happy experience. Show you how amazing sex can be if you’re willing to let go with people you trust.”

Flattered, blushing, Q nods and smiles at the Dom. Then two things happen simultaneously. Alec captures his lips in a very deep kiss while pinching Q’s nipples and making him squeal, and James leans forward, swallowing Q’s cock completely. The Sub is wound tight enough that he very nearly loses control right there. James’s mouth is just the right amount of warm and wet, and the man is able to swallow around him completely. Every single bit of Q’s moaning and begging is swallowed by Alec’s insistent mouth.

The Doms work in tandem, James eventually bobbing his head while his hands work Q’s shaft and balls at the same time (oh _fuck_ he won’t last at all if James keeps this up) and Alec working his nipples until they feel sore and bruised; the Dom then licks them both, teasing Q with his tongue while the boy whimpers desperately. Q looks down at James when Alec sits back, the both of them watching the Dom work. James looks back up at them, his eyes almost completely black with lust as he swallows Q to the hilt again. His fingers are slowly working their way lower, back between Q’s legs.

“Look at him,” Alec growls, his own voice gravelly with lust as he watches James. “He’s amazing with his mouth, isn’t he? He wants you to come, you know. Come down his throat so that you can taste yourself on his tongue when he kisses you. We both want to know what you sound like when you orgasm, Danny. And besides… when good boys come for their Doms, they get lovely rewards. If you come down James’s throat, I’ll get you hard again before I fuck you and then let you come while I’m inside you.” He guides Q’s hand down to touch his still clothed length, and Q’s eyes widen as he feels how thick Alec is.

“James is just as big as I am, but he has far more patience than I do. And I want to be inside you, Danny. Stretching you, so deep you think you’ll split in two, fucking you hard enough you’ll feel me in the morning.” Q feels his mouth go dry, feels heat pooling in his abdomen as Alec keeps talking. “Come on, Danny. We want to see you come. Good boys come when they’re told,” he purrs. “ _Come for us, now_.”

Q throws his head back as his orgasm hits him, and he grabs at the bedsheets, crying out for James and Alec. He can feel his cock pulsing as he pours down James’s throat; the Dom swallows it all without hesitation and pulls off slowly as Q goes soft between his lips. James rubs Q’s thighs gently, pressing a kiss to his hipbone before moving back up the bed to kiss the Sub where he lays panting and floating on the surface of subspace.

“I… I had forgotten… oh that’s so good… so relaxed now,” Q mumbles, and James and Alec grin at each other.

“There, pet, isn’t that just a little bit better?” James murmurs, hugging Q close. The Sub nods, nuzzling the Dom.

“You both… you’re both amazing.”

Alec kisses Q’s forehead gently. “Do you still want more, lad?”

“Oh yes. I might be under a little but still want that.”

The Dom grins and moves back down the bed. “James, on his stomach. You can keep him in your lap if you want.”

“One moment.” James takes off his own pants and kicks them aside before pulling Q to lay on top of him, chest to chest. “There now. Much better.” He begins kissing Q again as Alec positions the boy the way he wants him, with Q on all fours.

“God, your arse is a thing of beauty. Good enough to eat,” Alec growls. In fact, as he squeezes Q’s arse, he nips the taut muscle, making the boy yelp in surprise.

“Hold still, Danny,” James murmurs, knowing what his husband is about to do. “Be a good boy for me and hold still for just a moment.”

Q nods and obeys, holding himself still as Alec spreads him open before- “oh _GOD_!”

The Dom is holding him apart and licking his hole and Q feels his joints turn to jelly. Alec doesn’t let up either. He begins to thrust his tongue into Q, past the first ring of tight muscle, and James works to help Q relax and remember to breathe, helping him relax. It feels completely filthy and amazing at the same time, and it’s a brand new experience for the Sub.

“I-I’ve never-this is-oh _fuck_ ,” he swears, whimpering as Alec continues the slow torture with his tongue and lips. James strokes his fingers through Q’s hair as he kisses the boy with a smile.

“The first time Alec did that to me, he had managed to convince me to be on the receiving end of bondage as well. I broke the bedposts when I came,” he grins. “He’s marvelous, isn’t he? And there’s a reason I’m begging the way I do when I bottom for him. His cock is twice as clever as his tongue in that respect.”

Q groans and rocks back against Alec’s mouth. He hears the cap of the lube bottle click open, and soon the tongue in his arse is joined by one, then two fingers, and if anything, it’s filthier now than it was just a moment before. He can feel Alec licking between his fingers as he scissors them open to stretch Q wide enough to take his cock. A few more minutes and he’s relaxed enough to take three fingers without too much trouble or burn. Only then does Alec lean back, taking his tongue out of the equation. Q opens his mouth to complain, but that’s when Alec’s fingers find his prostate. The Sub gasps, his cock stirring back to life as Alec begins what could only be described as a prostate massage. It’s either that or sex torture; Q’s not sure which is more accurate.

He feels James’s hand on him, stroking and twisting, experimenting until he finds the right amount of pressure and friction to help coax Q back into full hardness. James continues to stroke Q as Alec withdraws his fingers and gets up. The Sub whines at the loss, clenching around air. “Whyyyy?”

“He’s rinsing his mouth out, pet.”

Oh. That makes sense. Alec is back a moment later, sans pants and rolling a condom onto his dripping cock. Q licks his lips at the sight, and Alec stops by the bed to kiss the boy. “Ready?”

“Yes. Yes sir, I’m ready.”

The Dom beams at him. “Good boy,” he murmurs before climbing back onto the bed behind Q. He lubes up his cock, making everything nice and slick before spreading Q’s cheeks again. “Let me know if you need me to slow down.” He guides the tip of his cock to Q’s hole and begins to press in, slowly but steadily.

Alec is bigger than Q has had in recent months, and he has to remember to breathe and stay relaxed as the Dom pushes into him because _fuck_ he’s big. After a moment or two, the initial burn isn’t too bad either. Sooner than he anticipates, Alec stops moving, balls resting against Q’s arse.

“Oh well done. You took all of me, kotyonok,” Alec groans, holding himself still and getting control of himself. “James, he’s tight. He’s really tight. Fuck…” He grinds his hips slowly, moving ever so slightly in Q and pulling a moan from the Sub.

“I’m good… Alec, I’m okay. Please don’t make me wait. Please…” Q looks back over his shoulder at the Dom. “Please fuck me.”

James groans when Q says that, and Alec’s eyes darken. Q can barely see any of the stormy grey around the edges as Alec snaps his hips and the Sub screams in pleasure. James pulls Q back to face him so he can kiss the boy, lightly tugging his hair.

Every nerve ending in Q seems to be on fire as Alec begins to fuck him, not really fast at first but firm, strong thrusts that make him lurch forward a little bit each time. Half his moans happen in James’s mouth as the Dom kisses him breathless, and one of the man’s hands has taken their cocks to stroke them together. He whines and trembles between them, holding himself up as best he can while they both work him over. He doesn’t want it to end. He doesn’t want any of this to stop because sex has never felt this good. _He_ has never felt like this with a partner ever. And maybe it’s the fact that there’s two of them, maybe it’s that he knows instinctively that they care about him. Whatever the reason, Q finally lets go and submits to them.

Every other word out of his mouth is “please”, alternated with “God” and “fuck” for the most part. He wants nothing more than to be good for them, and based on the praise James is whispering and how Alec is growling and groaning behind him, they really like what they have. Alec is steadily speeding up, adjusting his angle and pace until he’s ready. He catches James’s eye and nods, slamming right into the lad’s prostate.

Q’s eyes snap open as his whole awareness narrows to that spot. Then Alec does it again. And again. And _again_.

James’s hand speeds up and Alec isn’t backing off, and Q is almost afraid at how hard he thinks he might come, but in another few seconds he doesn’t have a choice. Because James’s mouth is at his ear while his hand moves faster around their hard cocks. “Come. Come for us, pet. Come on Alec’s cock like a good boy. Let him fuck you through your orgasm. Come for us _now_.”

Q’s orgasm hits him so hard that he sees stars. He clenches hard around Alec as he comes, nearly too lost to hear James moan “ _Danny_!” as he also comes, stroking them both and coating their chests in their release. He’s barely aware of Alec swearing a blue streak, hips stuttering as he also comes and fills up the condom. In a moment it’s over, the three of them panting and sweaty and Q floating happily in sub space.

James and Alec give the boy a few moments before moving. Alec slides out and stands a bit unsteadily to dispose of his condom and get a flannel from the bathroom. He gets it wet and comes back to clean up his husband and their lover. He starts with Q’s arse, making sure he gets all the lube before helping James roll the boy onto his back. The Dom feels his chest warm with how blissed out their boy looks. He makes quick work of cleaning up the mess on Q and James before returning to bed. He and James help Q under the covers and press up against him from either side, kissing his head and face and shoulders and holding him close.

Q surfaces just enough from his happy, warm cocoon to smile up at both men and mumble his thanks. His mouth and brain aren’t really working well together, an aftereffect of dropping into subspace, two orgasms in one night, and not feeling afraid or anxious at all for the first time in years. So when James and Alec whisper for him to sleep and let them care for him, he just smiles and obeys. He drifts off into sleep, happier than he’s ever been his whole life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for Q! He's finally starting to let go and trust them. And he finally got a happy moment as well. But he still has to figure out how to stop Silva.
> 
> The title of this chapter comes from a song by Florence + the Machine with the same name.


	10. So Happy Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bubble had to pop eventually. Q's still wanted by a dangerous hacker.

Q wakes the next morning to feather light kisses on his body, much the way he’d fallen asleep the night before. He smiles and sighs, stretching and wincing a little as sore muscles protest the movement. He opens his eyes as the reason for why his arse is sore comes back to him, and he finds himself staring up into blue eyes and grey eyes and twin smiles on the faces of the Doms.

“Morning, kotyonok.”

“Morning, pet.”

He smiles back at them and leans up for kisses from each man. “Morning to both of you too. What time is it? How long did I sleep?”

James rolls over to check the clock before rolling back to face Q. “Nearly nine. We decided to let you sleep in.”

Q is speechless, eyes wide and mouth open. “I… I slept in? I don’t think I’ve _ever_ done that before.”

“Well, now you have. Now, more importantly, how do you feel?”

“Good. _Sore_. But the nice kind of sore. The sore that says I did someone last night.”

James snorts and Alec bursts out laughing. “You’re got quite the clever mouth on you,” James murmurs as the other Dom hugs Q close.

“He does. It’s delightful, isn’t it?”

“I rather like it.” James runs his hand down the side of Q’s ribs and the boy squirms, choking on laughter. The two Doms share a glance and then smirk at the boy.

“Danny,” Alec asks softly. “Are you ticklish?”

Q can’t answer before both men are tickling him and he can’t _breathe_ for laughing and shrieking with delight and pure, unbridled joy. “Yes! I am! Oh god, Jaaaaaaaames!”

The Doms are merciless with their fingers when they discover just how wonderful Q’s laughter is, teasingly tormenting the boy until he can’t move for panting and they settle him back down with kisses and petting his hair. Q leans back into the touch, remembering something from the night before.

“Next time, you can pull my hair. I like that when I’m being fucked.”

The words have an immediate effect on the men. They go from flirty to seductive in seconds. “Shower. Now,” James growls, and Q feels his body respond. He scrambles up and runs for the bathroom, the men right on his heels.

***

Alec keeps Q braced against his body, holding him steady while James pushes into him, the water from the shower pouring down over their bodies. “You-you sure we won’t fall?” the Sub asks even as he moans from the stretch.

“Positive. Non-skid shower mat. It has held up under much practical testing,” James groans in Q’s ear as he bottoms out. “Alec you were bloody right. Tight as a vice and completely perfect.”

The Sub blushes, then cries out as James grips his hips with one hand and Q’s hair with the other and starts to move. James so different from Alec in his technique, Q decides, preferring to start off slow and really make sure Q can feel every single inch, both length and girth before pulling him back a little more and driving into him with powerful precision. It’s only Alec’s hands around his wrists that keep him from collapsing. He wants more, needs more, wants them both in every single way they can give.

When James gets close, he winks at Alec, and leans in to bite Q’s ear. “Okay, pet. Here’s how this works. I’m going to come first, then Alec gets to fuck you. But you’re not allowed to come at all until we’re done. If you manage that, you’ll get a reward. All right?”

Q flushes and nods, swallowing hard as James begins slamming into his prostate, making him squeal in pleasure. The Sub thinks of anything he can to stave off what feels like the inevitable, cold showers, complex mathematical algorithms. He just barely manages to keep control when he hears James come, the Dom filling up the condom and slipping out of the Sub.

“Good boy,” James murmurs, cleaning himself up and opening the shower door to drop the used condom in the bin. He then pulls Q against his body as Alec lines up and sinks into the Sub. As the other Dom begins to move, quickly and sharply, aiming to leave Q sore and unable to walk without help, James decides to take pity on the poor boy and reaches down, squeezing the base of Q’s cock to help him stave off orgasm. The Sub whines desperately, but he wants to be good.

Alec wastes no time in angling for the boy’s prostate, hitting it every single time until Q clenches sharply around him and he comes, pouring into the condom and cursing very loudly. “Fuck, shit, buggerfuck, oh god that’s bloody good.”

James chuckles and kisses the trembling Sub sweetly. “Such a good boy for us,” he praises. “You can come now. Touch yourself, pet, that’s it. Come for us, let us hear you _scream_.”

***

Well fucked, showered, and then well fed, Q finds himself curled up between James and Alec in the library an hour later, once again working on the code. Chewing his lip in concentration, Q tries another few keystrokes and starts up his new version of the neutralizing virus.

And he watches Silva’s code unravel and vanish completely, leaving only his code behind.

“I did it… I DID IT!” he shrieks in excitement, startling the Doms on either side of him. “It worked, it actually did!” He looks up at them in absolute joy before turning back to the work to download the code to the tiny flash drive. He removes it from the laptop and holds it up almost reverently. “I can stop him.”

James and Alec hug him at the same time and kiss Q’s cheeks, murmuring praise. “We knew you could do it.”

“Maybe you just needed all that sex to loosen up your brain.”

Q giggles and nods. “Perhaps I did. Now I need to figure out how to keep it on my person where I won’t lose it.”

“Alec, do you want to give it to him?”

“Yeah, I have it here somewhere. Hang on.”

Q turns to them in confusion until Alec pulls a small metal item from his pocket. Upon closer inspection, Q can see that it’s a gun, created with a phenomenal level of detail, down to the slot where the extra clip of ammunition would go. Curious, Q slides the drive into the slot and hears it click into place. He looks up at the older men, his question all over his face.

“We knew you would need something to hold the chip. When I’m not in here with you,” Alec says, “I’ve been doing a bit of tweaks to that particular charm, refitted it so it would hold the drive. Oh, and I have this.” He pulls out a length of woven braid, threading the charm onto it and holding it up. “May I?”

Q nods and holds still as Alec ties it in place around Q’s neck. The Sub’s stomach flips in the thought that it feels almost like a collar, but he finds that he doesn’t mind. If anything, it just makes him feel even more loved and cared for than he had the moment before. Q touches it almost self-consciously and smiles up at the Doms. “Thank you. Thank you both so much.”

James hugs him close, smiling and kissing the top of Q’s head. “You’re very welcome, pet.”

Q sighs and sinks against the Dom, feeling like a huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders. He has a working counter-code now. They might be able to win this.

“We still need a plan. We haven’t found Silva yet.”

“I’m hoping Milos or Anton will have news soon, but we need another plan in case they don’t. Would you consider wearing a tracking device, Danny?”

“I mean… it’s practical, but how would I conceal it? Won’t Silva’s men find it and just throw it away?”

“That’s where we’re ahead of you,” James says. He takes out a small box that he’s stashed under the sofa and opens it. Inside is the tiniest tracker Q has ever seen. “Open the pendant, love.”

Frowning, Q feels along the pendant until it pops open, revealing the perfect sized space for the bug. “Ahhh, I see. Then I have the solution with me, and you know it has to be because the tracking device is with it too.”

“Not only that,” Alec chimes in, “but it’s very hard to detect even with really good scanners, and we have the device it’s paired with.” He takes out what looks like a little mobile and turns it on. The screen turns green and gives coordinates.”

“Successful test. I happen to know that’s where we are right now.”

Q puts the pendant back together and hugs both men tightly. “Thank you. Seriously, thank you both.”

***

They hear nothing the next morning from Alec’s contacts, and now that he’s managed to solve the problem of the code, Q is having trouble holding still. He’s restless, mind working too fast and too loudly for him to be able to think properly. By the time they get to lunch, he’s back to barely eating which worries James and Alec.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m restless. Everything’s so quiet. Do you think it will storm later?”

“Dunno. It might. Do you want to go for a walk? Will that help?”

“Wait! I have a better idea! Let’s go hunting. Then we can be outdoors and maybe bring something back for dinner.” James and Alec look hesitant, but Q persists. “It’ll get us exercise. Maybe wear me out? And then we could spend all evening in front of a roaring fire in the great hall.”

“Well, when you put it that way…” Alec trails off, smirking. James responds with a grin and nods.

“Oh go on then. Bundle up though, that chill will sink into your bones after about an hour.

Half an hour later, the three of them make their way to the forest behind the chapel, Q with a shotgun (his preferred short range weapon) and James and Alec each with a rifle. “Stick to the path,” Alec say as they reach the trees. “It’s fairly easy to get lost.”

“We might get lucky enough to find rabbits.”

“Wouldn’t mind a rabbit stew. With some vegetables, a good hearty stock. Okay, I’m hungry now.”

“You’re always hungry, Alec.”

Q giggles and looks around on the ground, looking for any signs of life. Fifteen feet into the forest, he sees what look to be rabbit tracks and begins to follow them, moving as slowly and quietly as his boots will allow. He keeps his gun close, trained on the ground but ready to bring up and fire at any time.

Twenty minutes pass and he’s still following the tracks with no other signs of wildlife. Frustrated, Q sighs and leans against a tree for support, coming out of his focused tracking to look around… no sign of the path anyway. He feels his stomach twist and he brings the shotgun up, flipping the safety off. He’s been so absorbed in tracking that he hadn’t noticed when he left the path, and now he hears footsteps that definitely don’t belong to his Doms. Two men emerge from the trees, dressed all in black. They’re definitely staring at him, and Q adjusts his glasses nervously. They must be Silva’s men.

He hears a twig snap and swings the gun up, turning as he does. He sees another henchman and doesn’t hesitate. He fires, and then everything happens at once; he’s not sure if he’s hit his target, but hopefully James and Alec heard it. The shotgun kicks back, upsetting Q’s already precarious footing and he falls. The men who he’d seen first catch him, yanking the gun from his hands as a cloth covers his mouth and nose.

His last thought before everything goes black is that he’ll never see James and Alec again. That he should have told them that he wants them to be his Doms permanently.


	11. Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything comes to a head as Q wakes up away from James and Alec.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a slight hint of dub/non-con. Nothing actually happens, but a few things could be a bit triggery.

“Wakey wakey, little Quartermaster. You’ve slept long enough now.”

The voice slithers into Q’s mind as he surfaces from his chloroform coma, but he doesn’t immediately open his eyes. That will just alert the enemy to his state sooner. He very gently tries to move his arms, but they’re bound to the arms of the chair he’s in. Typical, but makes sense. He needs to figure out as much as he can before-

“Ah, there you are. I was beginning to wonder if my men had given you too much in their zeal to bring you back to me in one piece.”

Reluctantly, Q opens his eyes and finds himself staring into the face of his captor. In that moment, he knows the Dom doesn’t intend Q to survive, not now that the Sub has seen his face. “Silva. Or is it Tiago? Funny thing about aliases- hard to remember your name after a while.”

“And I suppose you would be the expert on that? Daniel Holt?”

It’s like Q’s blood turns to ice in his veins. He knows he stiffens, and he mentally kicks himself for it, but there’s nothing he can do. Not even James and Alec know his last name, and he’d taken such care to delete every record from every database. So how-

“Finding your name was something of a challenge. A pleasant one, took me almost an hour.” Q pales even more. “There was a newspaper announcement from when you were in primary. You won a science fair. Little Daniel Holt. You’ve grown up quite a bit since then, haven’t you?”

Q won’t let the man get under his skin, won’t let him get to him. Ignoring the brewing panic attack in his mind, he tries to stare down the Dom instead. “And you’ve been busy I take it. Took you more than a week to find me. You must not be as good as you think you are.” He can see a vein pulsing in Silva’s temple at that, and knows he’s found a weakness. “What must that have been like? You probably arrived at my flat to find me gone. Vanished practically into thin air.”

“But not completely. There were enough clues to find you in the end.”

“No there weren’t. You just got lucky.”

“No, I used satellites. But I had to make sure I fixed the codes you interrupted in your meddling before I came for you. And while I was repairing the damage, I thought of a much better use for you than just to kill you.” He leans into Q’s space, and the Sub tries to back up, but the chair gives him no escape, making the Dom smirk. “ _You_ are going to take the fall.”

“What.”

“And when MI6 finally figure out where the attack came from, they’ll try you and execute you as a terrorist and traitor to the British crown. A disgrace to your country. And I’ll be long gone. Now, as for the matter of keeping you docile.”

Q realizes it the second before it happens, and he tries to knock his chair over to get away. Silva’s hand settles over the back of his neck and squeezes as the man’s natural Dominance seems to magnify tenfold.

“Go. Down. Daniel. _Now_.”

The Sub fights it, fights against the pressure of the hand on the nape of his neck, the Dominant order, trying desperately to block out Silva’s voice. He might have succeeded had Silva not taken Q’s chin with his free hand and forced the Sub to meet his gaze. “Obey me. Go down for me. _Now_. Don’t make me ask again.”

A sob escapes Q’s chest as he drops, sinking into subspace like there are weights strapped to his limbs. It’s happening again. _Again_. He can’t do this; he doesn’t want to surface from it this time. The Sub slumps in the chair, barely aware of his surrounding, of anything other than the intermittent, serpentine crooning from the blond man who isn’t his Dom.

***

The next time he’s aware of everything, he’s sitting in front of a computer, surrounded by servers with no idea how long he’s been kept under. Silva is perched on the desk in front of him, watching him carefully. “Ah. You’re back. So, your job here is very simple. All I want you to do is just show me how you hacked in and disabled the code last week. I’m watching your keystrokes, so don’t try anything or you’ll go back down. Take your time, I’m in no rush.”

“You should know how I did it since you’re the one who stole my code and adapted it in the first place,” Q snaps, every single emotional nerve in his body raw with what the Dom has done to him.

“Perhaps. But you’re the one who _wrote_ it initially. A brilliant little program that you sold to the highest bidder.” Silva’s smirk widens when he sees the fear in Q’s eyes. “Oh yes. It was well worth the investment. You should really be more careful who you talk to on the web. You never know who is out there. And besides, I want to see the famed Quartermaster at work. Call it… professional curiosity.”

Q swallows and forces himself to breathe more evenly. Okay, he doesn’t know how long he’s been asleep or out, doesn’t know where he is, if he’s going to live (Silva could still get angry and kill him). All he wants, more than anything in that moment, is James and Alec. Q feels some of the panic recede at the thought of the Doms, who is he kidding, _his_ Doms, finding and protecting him. Taking him back to safety. So he has to get through this for them, for himself. He just needs to get loose enough to remove the chip from his necklace.

“I can’t type bound like this. I can’t even reach the keyboard. If you’re going to keep me restrained… sir,” using that word to address Silva almost makes him gag, “I’ll need a little more mobility.”

The pale blond Dom in front of him begins to chuckle, a sleazy, creepy sound that makes Q’s skin crawl. Silva gets down from the desk and crowds Q’s space again. “Quite a bold little mouth on you,” he purrs. “You just need a Dom to teach you some manners.” He closes the distance and crushes Q’s mouth against his own. The Sub wants to vomit he’s so disgusted, but he’s trapped in such a way that he can’t move. Silva really is a slimy bastard, and Q just forces himself to hold still and wait until it’s over, just to get through it.

When Silva finally pulls back, he’s smirking again. He crosses to a table and picks up a large, metal band, coming back and clamping it into place around Q’s neck before turning it on. “This, in case you can’t tell, is a shock collar. Get more than a foot from this terminal and you’ll get zapped. Like a pesky little fly.” Silva undoes Q’s wrists then, leaving his ankles bound to the legs of the chair. “All right then, little fly. Go to work.”

Q stares blankly at the screen for several seconds before beginning to type. Under normal conditions, he’s quite a good hacker, but anxiety and stress and terror like this? His concentration is shot. He moves much slower than he’s used to, and he knows Silva is irritated with his progress. It’s not like he can go any faster with the man watching him so closely, standing in his personal space. He swallows past the lump in his throat, and fights down a wave of tears that threatens to leave him disoriented. He has to stay strong. He has to.

He manages to evade the firewalls in the NHS without detection and locates the code Silva had been forced to replace. Just as he begins to type, he hears a noise.

 _Gunfire_.

There are shouts and several shots, and then the doors burst open. James is standing there, dressed all in black from head to toe, including what looks like a bulletproof vest, cool as anything, Walther aimed right at Silva’s heart. There’s the sound of the hacker’s minions coming in through the doors on the opposite end of the room, armed to the teeth and aiming at James. The man doesn’t blink an eye. Q feels a rush of affection and relief that threaten to send him into an emotional tailspin, but he knows this is his chance. If everyone stays distracted, he can fix this.

“James Bond. Your reputation precedes you.”

“As does yours, Silva, but you’ll find I’m not in the mood to chat.”

“That’s too bad. I had hoped to meet you face to face, let you watch as I sentence your plaything for life.”

Q slowly wraps his arms around himself, trembling to mask his actual movements as he slides his hands slowly up to his throat. A shadow passes so quickly overhead that he thinks he’s imagined it, but when he looks up, he can see Alec right above the skylight. His heart skips a beat and he can feel his confidence returning. Maybe it’ll be enough. He looks back to where Silva and James are still squared off and continues moving his hands up to the little gun pendant still safe at his throat. Carefully, slowly, he wiggles the chip free and lowers his hands again.

No one seems to have noticed. No one is looking at him or paying him any mind. He plugs the chip into the laptop and opens up his program. With a last glance up at Silva’s back, Q begins working. His fingers fly over the keys like a master pianist giving the performance of his life. He makes the computer sing for him, plugging his code into Silva’s and activating it. Within seconds, the entire threat is neutralized and wiped completely from the Internet.

Q’s not done. He wants the world to know who this bastard is, so he hacks into Silva’s personal files, doing a mass file move and dumping all of them onto the web. He sends a copy of everything to MI6 and then logs back out, not a trace of him left in the system.

Silva turns, realizing that Q has been typing rapidly for several minutes, and he looks at his tablet to check Q’s keystrokes and sees what the hacker has done. His face turns an ugly mottled color with rage just as a hailstorm of bullets rains down on his lackeys; within seconds, the only people left alive in the room are James, Q, and Silva. The hacker Dom presses a button on his tablet, rounds on Q, and takes aim. The Sub tries to knock the chair over, diving for cover as he hears the shot ring out. Fire seems to erupt in his shoulder as he hits the ground. Q hears another shot and the thump of a body hitting the floor, and then James is by his side, taking off the horrible shock collar and unbinding his legs. Then he hears the Dom swear.

“Fuck. Oh fuck, no no no, Danny? Danny can you hear me? Danny!”

Q tries to open his mouth to tell James he’s fine, but he turns his head and sees red. Blood is pouring out of his shoulder, shock setting in, and somewhere, something is ticking, counting down.


	12. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Silva may be dead, but Q was shot.

Q is very tired of waking up in strange places with no memory of how he got there.

Everything is very pale and blurry when he opens his eyes this time. The bed he’s in is comfortable enough, but he’s propped up, not completely lying down. He blinks a few times, struggling to bring the world into focus. He can’t move at first, and whimpers in panic as everything from before comes rushing back into his consciousness.

_-the men in the wood, chloroform, Silva, forced Drop, hacking his computer, James and Alec, he got shot, that ticking-_

Q tries to sit up, gasping as pain radiates out of his shoulder. He hears a soft gasp and then a callused hand takes his, squeezing gently.

“Danny?

Q turns his head and sees “ _James_.” The blond looks like he’s been through hell, and Q isn’t sure he’s showered recently. James is smudged with what looks like soot, and part of his hair looks singed. Along with his sleeves and trousers. He has dark circles under his eyes, eyes that look remarkably bloodshot, like the man has been crying. “What happened? Where am I?”

“You beat Silva, Danny. Then the bastard shot you before I could take him down, but he’s dead. He’s gone for good. Now, you mustn’t move. The doctors were able to repair the damage to your shoulder, but you lost a lot of blood. You’re still receiving transfusions.”

Q looks up and sees a blurry red bag hanging from a metal stand next to his bed. “I remember getting shot, but you look like you just barely escaped getting burned alive. I don’t remember a fire.”

“Ah. Well… the whole place was rigged to blow. I barely got you out in time. Alec managed to get off the roof, but he was closer to the blast than we were.”

Q suddenly doesn’t feel like he has a stomach anymore. “He-he’s not-he didn’t-”

“James, don’t scare the boy. You make it sound like I died, you old git.” A curtain Q hadn’t realized was drawn around his bed is pulled back, and Alec is standing there. Half his face is in bandages, but he’s grinning. “I was an idiot and didn’t get clear fast enough. It was a hell of a blast, gorgeous fire when she got going too. Got some burns, but I’ll be fine in no time. Probably a more handsome devil with the visible battle wounds.”

“Yes, Alec thinks whenever his pain killers kick in that he’s invincible. Get back into bed, you moron.” Q giggles at them both, then winces as his shoulder aches. It hurts to breathe for a moment until the pain settles again.

The other Dom simply sits on the edge of Q’s bed and takes the boy’s other hand rather than get back into his own bed. “How’re you feeling, kotyonok?”

“Like shit,” Q admits. “I can’t really move right now. And my head hurts. And everything is blurry.”

“Your glasses broke when you fell,” James explains. “We’re having a new pair made for you, a nice solid set of black frames. The doctor said he could figure out your prescription easily. We think you’ll like them. Well, we hope you will.”

“How long was it before you knew I was gone?”

“We heard the shot and started moving toward it. Alec had the tracker hub in his pocket just in case you managed to get lost in the forest, and it started beeping really quickly. You were moving fast. We could see the signs of struggle when we got to where you had been in the forest, and the shotgun was there, barrel still warm too. When your tracker finally stopped moving, we looked up the coordinates. Then it was just a matter of grabbing the right weapons and gear.”

“The shot you heard… they tried to get the jump on me and I fired. Did-did my shot land?”

“No,” both men said firmly. “There was a bit of blood on the ground, but you must have just clipped him.” Neither Dom is about to tell their newly awakened Sub that he’d killed a man. They had burned the body and disposed of it before leaving to rescue Q.

“So… so I’m really safe. He’s properly gone?”

“I took him out between the eyes. His body burned when the building went up, and the authorities were able to identify him. He’s gone.”

Q sinks back against the pillows and trembles in relief. He’s exhausted. He wants a hug. He wants to go home. The Sub blinks in surprise. When he thinks of home, he doesn’t see his flat next door to James and Alec. He sees Skyfall. “Can we talk? About us?” The Doms nod, squeezing Q’s hands in reassurance. “Do things have to go back to the way they were before? Because I-I don’t want that. I don’t want to stop seeing you or being with you… I was so terrified when I woke and saw Silva in front of me. He forced me to drop to keep me from running. He kissed me.” Q shudders at the memory and tries to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach, and he hears Alec start to swear in Russian while James just squeezes his hand tighter in reassurance. “But as soon as I saw James, and then you, Alec, I felt safe again. I knew I was in danger, that we all were in terrible danger, but I also knew I could do what I needed to in order to beat him. That has to mean something, right? That I feel safe when you’re around?”

“Q,” James murmurs, stroking the hair back from the Sub’s face. “We would both love to continue being your Doms.”

“Absolutely. There’s nothing we would like more than that, love.”

Q blushes up at them and smiles. “When you gave me the pendant and put it on, it kinda felt like a collar. And I really liked it. I think I knew then. And I’m sure I know now. I want to be your Sub.”

The Doms beam at him, and they each lean in to kiss him gently, hugging what they can without jostling his injured shoulder.

“You’re so brave, Danny.”

“Such a good boy, kotyonok.”

“We’re here for you. We promise.”

“Rest. Heal. We’ll be right here the whole time.”

***

It’s two weeks before Q is allowed to leave the hospital. His doctor fixes him up with a sling for his injured arm with strict instructions to limit mobility for the time being to help it heal and to come back in a week to check his progress. Alec, on the other hand, gets his bandages off two days before they’re allowed to go. His burn scars are still a bit shiny, but he was right that first day. He doesn’t look any less handsome now than he had before. The doctors give him a salve to apply a few times a day to aid the healing process, but other than that, he’s all better.

James drives, allowing Alec to hold Q and cuddle him on the car ride back to London, with the added benefit that Alec won’t put a scratch on the Aston Martin in the process. They stop a few times for food and to stretch, but mostly Q rests in Alec’s arms while they talk about everything the boffin remembers about the incident. He feels better as he tells them, sharing the trauma and voicing it this time. He’s exhausted by the end and lets Alec help ease him down until he can nap.

When they arrive at their building that evening, James and Alec both support Q on the walk up to their floor, but the Sub insists on opening the door himself.

“Well. It’s no worse than I anticipated.”

His flat is an absolute wreck. There’s not a single piece of furniture left standing or even a single mug left intact. The floor crunches as they walk into the room, treading on more than just broken things. Everything from Q’s past lays shattered in front of them.

“Are you all right?”

The Sub squares his shoulders, wincing a little before turning back to the Doms. “Yes,” he says firmly. “Things can be replaced. You two can’t.”

James feels his chest tighten a little with emotion, and he pulls the boy into a hug. “We can buy you all new things.”

“Oh! Can I see your mobile?”

James hands it to Q who opens the internet browser and logs into something. “He left my bank account untouched.” Q looks up at the Doms. “I mean, obviously I have to check and make sure he didn’t booby trap it, but I have a fairly sizable sum of money to my name. So I’m not destitute. Just… starting over.”

They go to James and Alec’s flat next, and the difference could not be clearer. “Your place is spotless? Really?”

James holds the boy back while Alec steps in, checking the furniture and the doors. “It seems all clear, but I don’t trust it.”

“I’m not sure Silva knew who helped me…”

“It wouldn’t have taken much for him to figure it out.”

“Okay, well, we’ll need a few hours to make sure it’s completely secure.”

“Why bother with it? We could all just move to a new place. Someplace big enough for the three of us.” Q thinks it’s a good idea, a clean, fresh start for them.

“My flamethrower is here,” Alec pouts, causing James and Q to burst into laughter.

“Okay, then how about a new place in the city?” James suggests. “We already have a place in the country.”

“We?” Q frowns for a moment until it clicks. “You mean Skyfall?”

Both Doms smile at him. “We’re going to clean it up and use it as a home for part of the year. Give it a proper update so that you have internet and everything. And fix the damn heating so you don’t turn into a Sub-cicle.”

“So I have-you’re doing this for me?”

“For you and for us. For the three of us.” James strokes his hand down Q’s cheek as Alec moves close enough to brush his fingers through Q’s hair. “You’re the Sub we’ve been looking for our whole lives, Q,” the blond murmurs.

The young boffin feels his eyes burn with unshed tears of pure joy. He kisses James hard, his right hand holding tight to the Dom’s shirt before turning and doing the same to Alec. “ _Thank you_ ,” he whispers to them.

“Okay, I’m risking the bedroom to rescue my flame thrower. We can spend the night in a hotel if the place goes up in flames, right?”

***

The day that Q is finally able to take the sling off, James and Alec have a gift for him, and it’s James who has more trouble keeping it secret than Alec. The blond almost ruins the surprise twice before noon, leaving Q confused as to why Alec is giving James a mixture of his “I’m going to fuck you” and “I’m going to fuck you up” expressions.

Once Q emerges from the doctor’s appointment, they bring their Sub back home and feed him a huge dinner of steaks with mashed potatoes and asparagus with a decadent flourless chocolate cake for dessert. Q is completely sated when he finishes his meal, and now that he has a clean bill of health, he’s hoping his Doms will have their way with him and officially christen the bed in their new flat.

“Danny, we have something for you.”

James and Alec are holding a box when Q looks up at them, and suddenly his heart feels like it’s in his mouth. “It’s done?”

“We picked it up this morning. After we dropped you off for the doctor.”

The Sub opens the box slowly, biting his lip as he looks at what’s inside. “It’s _gorgeous_.”

“This is the one for every day. We also have one for when you want us to play a little rougher with you. And we even have one that’s waterproof too.”

Q picks up the supple leather collar, admiring the silver embroidered letters that link their initials together. “Put it on me, please,” he says, breathless.

James takes the collar and fastens it gently around Q’s throat with a smile. “How does it feel?”

“It’s a perfect fit.” Q sniffles, eyes stinging as he begins to cry.

“Poppet, what’s wrong?”

“Kotyonok? Are you all right?”

Q nods and sobs, hugging them both. The move to the sofa, arranging Q in their laps and holding him close while he gets his voice back. “I-I feel like I belong,” he manages to say a few minutes later. “I love it. I love it so much. Because it’s you. Because it means I’m yours.” He looks up at them, his eyes filled with happy tears. “Because I’ve fallen in love with both of you. And I want to be yours forever.”

“You are, lyubov moya.”

“Hey, wait, that’s what you call me when you’re feeling sappy.”

“Alec, will you ever stop being a huge prat?”

“Nope. It’s part of what you both love about me.”

Q laughs, the giggle sounding almost like a hiccup, but he smiles up at the Doms and hugs them again. “I love you _both_. I’m your kotyonok, remember?”

Alec smiles very fondly at the young Sub. “I do. Of course I do.”

James strokes Q’s hair and for a long time, the three of them just sit there and laugh and hold each other as the moon rises over London. And they’re happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's only one more chapter to go, an epilogue of sorts. I've written my brains out today with Chapters 9-12 (something around 11,000 words since early this afternoon). With any luck, I'll finish it tomorrow or Wednesday.


	13. Presents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A year after everything with Silva ends, the boys are back at Skyfall for the holidays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhh there's domestic bliss and lovely porn ahead.

"A little more to the left. Now up one branch. Perfect. It looks wonderful."

James hangs the ornament on the tree and smiles down at Q. "You sure? The tree isn't too busy?"

"Not at all. It's a huge bloody tree though. Dunno how you got it in here in the first place."

"Lube," Alec chimes in as he carries another box of decorations into the great hall. Q gives him an exasperated look, but the Dom just winks at him. "You know you love me."

"I suppose I do. But that depends on what you've found."

"More garlands than you'll know what to do with, kotyonok. This place will look like a wonderland in no time."

It's their first real Christmas at Skyfall since completing the renovations, and for Q, it'll probably be the happiest Christmas of his life thus far. He's in a very happy relationship, he's wearing his Doms' collar, and he has the love of two gorgeous, amazing men. He anticipates many more wonderful holidays to come, but he wants to savor this one in particular. You don’t get many chances for new firsts in life.

Opening the box, he pulls out several lengths of red and green and gold garlands. "I think we can use these on the windows. Maybe over the mantle as well? Oh!! And down the banister!"

Alec chuckles and kisses the Sub tenderly before helping him carry a few more strands. "All right then. Lead the way. You'll be all right finishing the tree, James?"

"Don't worry about me. Go decorate."

Q leads the way, practically bouncing with excitement when they reach the stairs. It turns out he's quite handy with winding garlands, and after ten minutes, the stairs look quite festive indeed. "I never got to help decorate in foster homes. This is... It's like the season is infectious. I can feel myself brimming with Christmas spirit."

Alec smiles fondly at the boy and pulls him into a tight hug, smiling a little more when Q kisses his scarred cheek. "I'm just glad we're able to make it so happy for you."

"You both spoil me, really. I think I'm the luckiest Sub in the whole world."

"We feel like the luckiest Doms, I can promise you that for sure."

"All right, let's go back and get the window in the great hall. That room needs more decoration."

***

They've exhausted their supply of decorations more than an hour later, and James and Alec manage to convince Q to snuggle in front of the fire with mugs of hot cocoa and fresh shortbread. It had started snowing about an hour before, and the world outside is turning into a proper winter fairyland. "I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas," Q murmurs, tucked up against James's side while Alec feeds him a cookie. "Or that we've been together over a year."

"It's flown by fairly fast, hasn't it?" James gently squeezes the nape of Q's neck with a smile as the Sub sighs contentedly. "I can't believe it sometimes when I wake to find you in our bed."

"You and me both. I never thought I would find anyone like you or Alec. That I would be so lucky. Or this happy." He smiles sleepily at the Doms and cuddles closer, James holding him tight and Alec rubbing his back. Five minutes, he thinks as he closes his eyes. Just five minutes...

***

"Awwww, he fell asleep. I think you wore him out."

"Me? You were helping him string garland everywhere."

"We should build a snowman with him when it stops later. And have a snowball fight, a proper one. I think he’ll enjoy that."

"Do you want to put the presents out tonight, or shall I do it?"

"No, I can. Though getting out of bed will be a challenge. He wakes so easily sometimes and doesn’t always settle well without both of us."

"Hence the need to play outside. Wear him out really well."

"And give him a chance to put his gifts for us out too. But then we can thaw him out with a hot bath and a good meal."

"He's going to love his gifts."

"I know."

***

"That's a point for me! Come on, up your game, old man!"

"Old man?" James growls before tackling Q and pinning him to a snow bank. The Sub squeals and tries to throw a half packed snowball into James's face, getting the wet slush all down James's neck. The Dom growls and shakes, spilling snow on Q and his glasses. Neither one of them notice Alec sneaking up with a fairly massive snowball until he dumps it over both of them. 

"I win! Ha!"

James and Q are laughing as the Dom helps rescue the Sub from where he's now half buried in the drift... And shivering. "All right, I think that's enough playing in the snow. Time to thaw you out."

Q lets the men carry him back to the house and immediately up to the bathroom because, to his surprise, he's shivering fairly violently now, and when they strip him out of his winter clothes, he sees why. Snow managed to creep in down the back of his coat as well as into his gloves and boots. His teeth are chattering as the Doms gently lower him into a hot bath. 

"Ow! Ohhhhhh that's good but it hurts."

Alec rolls up his sleeves and reaches into the tub to help massage feeling back into Q's feet while James does the same with the boy's fingers. "It'll stop hurting in a few minutes. Breathe, love."

The Sub obeys, relaxing as the water and his Doms do the trick. "Better. So much better," he sighs.

James cards his fingers through Q's hair, lightly scratching and tugging. "That's good, love. Are you hungry at all?"

"Maybe a little. Do we have any stew left?"

"We do. Would you like to eat in the tub?"

"Can I?!"

James and Alec both laugh, and James kisses Q's forehead. "Of course. Alec, will you bring up the dinner tray?"

Forty minutes later they're all washed and bundled into bed, Q almost asleep after both Doms kissing him thoroughly and settling him between them. "G'night," he mumbles before nodding off and smiling in his sleep. 

James and Alec share a brief, deep kiss before the blond gets up and retrieves the presents from the closet. He's down to the tree and back in two minutes, back in bed before Q can miss him. 

***

Q is awake first the next morning, waiting all of five minutes after opening his eyes to start bouncing in the bed. "It's Christmas! Wake up! It's Christmas morning!"

He thinks it's hysterical. James and Alec groan and bury their heads under their pillows. 

"What time is it?"

"Just past five."

"Wait, in the morning?"

"No, on the moon." Q sniggers and shakes Alec's shoulder. "Yes in the morning."

"Not my turn, you calm him down," the sniper grumbles. 

"Oh no, you don't get to do that on his first real Christmas here." James is sitting up and stretching, cracking most of the vertebrae in his spine in the process. "Much better."

"Come _on_ Alec. Wake up!"

" _Fine_ ," the man grumbles. "But I'll have you know I need coffee. Lots of it."

"We can do that. Come on!"

Q bounds down the stairs to the kitchen, turning on the coffee maker and putting the kettle on for his morning tea. Both Doms come shuffling in a few moments later, yawning but smiling at him. "I've got the mugs out and your cream and sugar. I can't wait to see the presents! And give you yours, oh!" He darts back out of the room and retrieves his gifts for them from his office, bringing everything downstairs to put under the tree. The great hall is still a bit chilly without the fire lit, but the tree looks gorgeous. The lights cast colored shadows all over the walls, and with the snow covered landscape out the window, they could be in another world altogether. Q puts the gifts beneath the tree with several other large packages that definitely weren’t there and returns to the kitchen for his tea.

He barely makes it through the door before James pulls him into a deep, searching kiss, the Dom's tongue slipping past his lips and demanding his submission in a way that makes Q’s fingers tingle. The younger man surrenders willingly, clinging to the Dom until James pulls back so they can breathe. "What... Was that for?" The Dom smirks and points up, and Q can see mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. "That wasn't there earlier-oh you absolute-" James kisses him again, swallowing Q's reply. 

"I'd like a turn," Alec purrs, cutting in and holding Q's face in his hands before kissing the Sub thoroughly.

The end result is an extremely well kissed Sub who finds himself horny and half under, easily pliable and willing to be carried back to the great hall, James bringing their drinks and a huge stack of toast. He builds up the fire and gets it going before joining Alec and Q on the sofa. "Happy Christmas," he says with an amused grin. 

Q clings to his tea and sips it slowly, trying to clear his head a bit. "What should we open first?"

"Ah, not until you've eaten at least two pieces of toast, poppet."

The boffin pouts but James insists. He and Alec feed the boy in turns, punctuating bites of toast with kisses and petting. Q, however, doesn't lose sight of the end goal. "Presents now?"

The Doms nod and laugh. "Go on then," Alec says. "What do you want to open first?"

"Oh no. I'm giving first." He brings back four packages, handing two to each man. "James first."

The blond raises an eyebrow, but he opens his gifts. The first is a brand new Walther PPX with a few slight adjustments. Q can barely contain his excitement.

“It’s a lovely gun, Danny.” James grips the barrel and noticed a green light turn on. “Why’s it doing that?”

“Hand it to Alec for a moment.” James frowns but gives it to his husband. “All right Alec. Now wrap your hand around the grip,” Q instructs. His other Dom does, and a little red light comes on.

“Uh… Danny?”

Q beams. “It’s coded to your palm print, James. And only yours. No one else can fire it.”

Alec gives a low whistle and James takes the gun back. “How did you-”

“I’ve been tinkering. I never finished Uni and I always liked designing things, so I decided to teach myself. I usually work on it when you both are out for work and I have the place to myself for a few hours here and there. It wasn’t as complicated as I initially thought it might be.”

James smiles very fondly at Q and opens the second package. “A cookbook for desserts? Woah, wait.” He opens and skims the table of contents. “There’s dishes in here I’ve never heard of.”

Alec starts clapping, grinning broadly at their Sub. “Well done, Danny. I think we get to be the guinea pigs for James’s culinary exploits for the next few weeks.”

“Few months at least, lyubov moya.” James pulls Q in for a brief cuddle and a thank you kiss. “I love them both, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Q sits in James’s lap and turns to face Alec. “Your turn.”

“Not yet, actually. See, we have something for the three of us that we want you to open first.” Alec retrieves three very lumpy parcels and hands one each to James and Q. The Sub opens his first and bursts out laughing. He sees James and Alec open theirs and then laughs harder. His Doms have gotten all of them matching jumpers for Christmas. And they’re truly terrible. He pulls his on as quick as he can, loving how warm the knitted red wool is around him. “I’ve never seen Santa Claus look so demented before.”

James snorts and puts his own, Alec following suit. “They are rather ridiculous, but they’re not half warm.”

“I like it. Now can I open my presents?”

Q nods, and Alec opens the longer present first. “Now, there’s no fuel in it because I knew the first thing you would do is-” Alec gasps and swings his new present up and aims it at the fireplace. “-well, that.”

“You made me a flamethrower.”

“Modified and improved on it, yes. There’s a scope for if you want to shoot long range, and it will, quite brilliantly, shoot what is essentially a fireball. I’ve also reduced the danger of burning yourself by focusing where and how the flame comes out. So it’s a safer but deadlier flamethrower.”

Alec sets it down and drags Q into his lap to kiss the boy thoroughly, one hand in his hair and reducing Q to a whimpering mess in mere seconds. “I’m having you later, make no mistake.”

“Open your other gift.”

The Dom tears the paper off to reveal a book, but sits and stares at it, dumbfounded. “Danny… what is this?”

The Sub can barely contain his laughter, fighting to keep a straight face. “It’s a torrid tale of a handsome soldier who is horribly scarred in a fire and manages to find true love anyway.”

James explodes with laughter behind them, and Alec’s eyes flash dangerously for a moment before good humor takes over. Q scrambles into James’s lap to escape what he knows will be an attack of tickling. “Alec, you should see your _face_ ,” James roars, slapping his knee and hugging Q close. “He got you good!”

The Dom winks at Q and slumps back against the sofa. “Very funny, kotyonok.” And it is. Q knows both his Doms have a hidden penchant for making fun of how horrible paperback romances tend to be, but he also finds ways to tease Alec about his scars too, always in a loving way, of couse.

“It’s your turn to open gifts, love.” James smiles and nuzzles the boy. “Go on.”

From his Doms, Q receives the newest desktop Mac computer with all the latest hacking software they’ve been able to get their hands on, both an XBoxOne and a PS4 with several games and enough controllers that all three of them will be able to play, and a brand new Kindle with a two-hundred-pound Amazon gift card. “For your own virtual library,” James adds when Q sits there among the wrapping and stares at it.

“I don’t know what to say… thank you both… this must have cost a fortune-”

“It’s all worth it to see the smile on your face,” James interrupts, and Alec pulls the boy back up onto the sofa between them. “We wanted a chance to spoil you, and nothing makes us happier than seeing you happy. You know that.”

Q sniffs and hugs them both. “Last year was a really nice Christmas, but this? This is even better. This is the best Christmas of my life.”

Both Doms kiss their Sub and hold him for a little while, enjoying the warmth from the fire as they finish their coffees and tea.

***

After lunch, they’re all back on the sofa while Q sorts out his Kindle. The three of them have great fun choosing books with the boffin for him to read, and when he exhausts his first gift card, Alec produces another one that he’d hidden in the couch cushions the day before. Q squeals and kisses the man, getting a little more distracted than he’d intended when Alec deepens the kiss and slides his hand down to cup Q through his pyjama pants. The Sub gasps and flushes, rocking into the touch.

“Would you like your next present, kotyonok?” Alec purrs, and Q nods quickly. James takes the Kindle and gift card and sets them out of the way before pulling Q into his lap and sucking on the lad’s neck. Alec gets up and spreads out several blankets and cushions on the floor in front of the fire; there’s enough space that if the flames pop they won’t run the risk of catching fire, but they’re close enough that the heat will be comforting and welcome. Once that’s done and he produces a brand new bottle of lube and a few towels, James carries Q to the makeshift nest and sits down on it with the Sub.

“Do you remember what we talked about a few weeks back?” the blond murmurs as he traces the shell of Q’s ear with his tongue.

“We-we talk about lots of things. Which is this one?”

“You mentioned you might want to try something a little bigger, a little harder with us.”

The Sub’s eyes widen with understanding, and his jaw drops a little. “You’re saying-”

“We are. The last present for today, at least. We have presents for you all the way to Epiphany, but thought that this would be a nice way to spend part of Christmas afternoon.”

Q swallows hard and nods, very much wanting what the men are offering. “Yes please, sirs.”

In less than a minute the three of them are completely naked, their clothes dumped unceremoniously back on the sofa. The Doms easily sandwich Q between them as they kiss and pet and tease little whimpers and gasps of pleasure from his lips. “Prep will take a bit of time,” James murmurs into Q’s mouth as Alec tugs firmly on Q’s hair to pull his head to the side and leave a lovely mark above the boy’s collar. “Can you be patient for us?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Q whines, holding as still as he can. James kisses him again before Alec lays down with Q on top of him on the blankets. The Sub is facing up so that he can look into James’s eyes as the man begins to prep him. If it were just James’s fingers to contend with, he would probably be fine, just lose himself in the sensation of being slowly stretched open, but Alec is the one holding him, and the man has a mouth on him to beat all.

“You’re being such a good boy for us, Danny. So eager to take us both, aren’t you? Think you can handle two cocks in your arse at once?” The Dom reaches around to pinch and torment Q’s nipples, and the Sub whines in response, toes curling with the effort it takes not to squirm. He feels James add a third finger before Alec starts talking again. “We’ve seen how much you love taking bigger and bigger toys for us before we have you, so we’ve been talking about this for quite a while, but when you told us it was something you wanted to try? We knew we would plan it for today.”

Q closes his eyes and swallows, trying desperately to breathe and stay relaxed and calm, but Alec pinches again and James begins circling his prostate. “No escaping into that brilliant mind of yours, pet. Not this time. We want you here with us while we have you. We want to see your face. James will help me in first, get you nice and accustomed to your Dom’s cock before he begins to fill you too. You’ll feel like we’re going to snap you in half, and just when you think you won’t be able to take any more, James will begin to move, and I’ll begin to move. We’re both going to fuck you until you can’t scream anymore.”

The Sub’s mouth goes dry at the mental image, and he curls his hands into fists with the effort of not touching himself. After a year with his Doms he’s gotten much better at holding off his own release, waiting for permission, and the reward is always worth it, but it’s times like this where he just wants some kind of contact. Anything, really. He feels James add a fourth finger to stretch him further, and he keens in desperation. “Please, please I need you. I can’t stand it, I want your cock in me, sir. Please, please!”

James grins, and Alec chuckles, biting and sucking another mark into Q’s neck as James withdraws his fingers. The Dom helps slick up his husband’s cock with liberal amounts of lube before wiping off his hands and pulling Q into a sitting position. “This will make it easier,” he murmurs, holding Q up as Alec guides the tip of his cock to the boy’s loosened hole. James works to lower Q while Alec pushes up, and in one slow, fluid motion, the Sub finds himself sitting on Alec’s cock while James sucks on his tongue.

The Dom beneath him wiggles his hips a little, adjusting to the sensation of being inside their Sub. It’s going to be difficult for him and James, this. The sensations will be far more intense with how tight Q will be and the way they will slide against each other inside the boy Oh, he can’t bloody wait. Alec helps Q lay back against him, the boy’s chest flushed a pretty pink with arousal. James lubes up his fingers again and works to stretch Q even further. He takes his time, working their boy until he can take four fingers and Alec’s cock at the same time.

“He’s ready, Alec.”

“Good, because I’m about to burst.”

James chuckles and kisses his husband and Danny before slicking himself up and kneeling up between their legs. He lines up with Q’s hole and looks at the Sub. “Are you ready?” Q nods, breathing shallowly in anticipation as James begins to push in.

Alec was right. Q feels like he’s going to split in half, and he cries out at the initial stretch as his eyes roll back in his head. It burns a bit more than he’s used to, but he doesn’t safe word, and James keeps sliding in and rubbing inside him and against Alec and then suddenly-he stops. Q opens his eyes and sees James staring at him, lust drunk. “Are you all right?” the Dom asks, holding Q’s legs up and spread. When had he done that?

Q nods, unsticking his tongue from the roof of his mouth. “Y-yes… yes sir… oh _fuck_ you both need to move. _Please_.”

James obliges first, thrusting slowly and loving the way both Q and Alec groan in response. Once he finds a nice, steady rhythm, Alec begins to thrust in perfect counterpoint; as one of them slides back, the other pushes in, and Q dissolves into a screaming ball of pleasure. His body is on fire with it, every part of him tingling and his arse aching in all the right ways. Everything spikes when Alec catches his wrists and holds them against his sides because James has his ankles too. He’s completely at their mercy and _god_ , it’s perfection. It’s even better than he’d dreamed. His own cock is leaking steadily against his belly as his Doms start to speed up; the squelching sound their cocks make inside him is obscenely arousing, and he no longer is aware of begging with actual words. Q can’t even focus on any one sensation anymore. It’s overwhelmingly amazing.

The Sub is vaguely aware of Alec’s groan as he comes first, pouring into Q’s aching arse, and he feels James speed up, slamming quickly and sharply into him while Alec reaches down to stroke Q. The callused hand on his heated skin makes him squirm, and through the haze of lust and almost subspace and love, he hears his Dom order him to come.

“Go on, pet. Come on your Doms’ cocks, come while James fucks you. Let him see your face. Let us hear you, kotyonok. _Now_.”

Q screams and thrashes, Alec’s clever, knowing fingers milking him dry as James thrusts a few more times and comes with a shout of Q’s name, slowing down as he spills into the Sub.

***

Q surfaces from subspace nearly an hour later to find himself cleaned up and dressed and curled up between James and Alec. Both Doms are talking quietly when they see Q blink and look up at them. “Back with us?” James murmurs, kissing the sleepy smile from the Sub’s lips.

“Was amazing,” he mumbles. “Really was.”

“James, I think we broke him.”

The blond snorts a fond laugh and kisses Alec. “I think we wore him out.”

“More cuddles,” Q insists, clinging to both men.

“Absolutely. We can eat later.”

“Eat food or our Danny?”

“Alec! Have pity on the poor boy. He did just take both of us.”

But Q is giggling, hugging the silly Dom and pulling him closer. “Love you both,” he murmurs before sinking back to sleep for a nice, long Christmas afternoon nap.

“We love you too, Danny,” James murmurs into the Sub’s hair before wrapping him in a blanket.

“More than all the world,” Alec adds.

The young Sub smiles in his sleep, perfectly at peace and content with his life, not a worry left on the horizon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading; I truly hope you've enjoyed this story. Please leave comments and reviews if you can- they really make a difference and make my day.


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